By Ferry from Konak to Karşıyaka, Sunset at Bostanlı

Start the day at the Konak Ferry Terminal; the first pier there also opened in 1884, and the crossing to Karşıyaka has been made between the same two points ever since. Once aboard, skip the indoor saloon and go out on the open deck, because the real show is the passage itself. Behind you Konak and the Kordon shrink, while ahead the Karşıyaka shore, resting against the foot of Mount Yamanlar, slowly grows. This short crossing of the gulf can be counted as the city's oldest public transport line. Ferry service was launched by the Hamidiye Steamship Company, founded by Yahya Hayati Efendi, who obtained a thirty-year concession in 1883; according to the sources the sailings began in February 1884. The company ran steamers not only to Karşıyaka but to Urla, Foça and Çeşme Ilıcası as well; its vessel Müsavat could carry 500 passengers.

The ferry lands you at the pier on Cemal Gürsel Street, at the point where Kemalpaşa Street reaches the sea. Today's terminal building is new, but the site is old. The first pier was wooden and from 1906 was lit by gas. On 30 September 1908 the steamer İstanbul collided with a ship named Kassandra in the gulf and sank; only 30 of 170 passengers were saved, and that night angry residents of Karşıyaka set fire to the piers. The next pier was rebuilt in timber on wooden piles. İzmir's first reinforced concrete pier was completed here in March 1935 and enlarged in 1962. The major rebuilding that began in the mid-1980s was finished, according to the sources, between 1990 and 1992; the upper floor opened as a bookshop and cafeteria and operation passed to İZDENİZ.

When you land, linger inside the building for a few minutes. Go up to the upper floor and look out over the gulf; this is the best place to watch the Konak ferries dock and depart. Besides Konak, ferries leave here for Pasaport, Alsancak, Göztepe and Üçkuyular, so almost every point on the city's southern shore can be reached from this pier. Outside, the shore road runs in both directions; walk a few steps west and look back at the terminal from the water's edge. Morning light comes from the east and lights the building from the front; in the afternoon the Konak shore reads better. The best moment for a photograph is when a ferry is coming alongside.

On the square are the Karşıyaka İskele stop of the T1 tram and the ESHOT bus stops; a cycle path and step-free access have been provided. Keep these in mind, because you will return here in the evening on the way to Bostanlı. Kemalpaşa Street, which begins directly opposite, is your next stop; turn your back on the pier and step into the street, and you are inside Karşıyaka Çarşı.

Source: Wikipedia (Karşıyaka Vapur İskelesi; Konak Vapur İskelesi; Hamidiye Vapur Şirketi); 1912 Karşıyaka Derneği, Ulaşım Tarihi.

What people call Karşıyaka Çarşı is really a single street; Kemalpaşa Street begins at the pier and runs dead straight inland for 450 metres towards the railway station. On this route you will walk it not to shop but to read the backbone of the district. Two lines tied Karşıyaka to the city: according to the sources, the railway opened in 1865 and the ferry began in 1884. One stands at one end of the street, the other at the far end, and the bazaar grew precisely between the two. The census of 1891 counted 832 houses and 1,080 permanent residents; the summer resort of seasonal visitors turned into a permanent town along this street. European sources of the period called the district Cordelio; the tale linking the name to Richard the Lionheart of the Third Crusade is disputed. Local transport within the district began with trams in 1906, later giving way to buses and shared taxis; today's tram returned along the shore in 2017.

Enter the street from the pier and slow down. Look at the ground; the grey and black stones under your feet are granite brought from the Kozak plateau near Bergama. In 2008 the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality relaid the surface, broken up during the renewal of the gas and drinking-water networks, with 800 tons of natural stone; the work covered an area of six thousand square metres. In the same works the street's electricity poles were repaired and repainted. The street is pedestrianised, so you can walk down the middle and look to both sides. Make a habit of looking above the level of the shop signs; the character of the street hides in the upper floors, not in the windows. Every hundred metres or so, turn into the side streets that open left and right; those on the right lead to the shore, those on the left into the neighbourhood, and it is easy to find your way back.

The street has a bookshop tradition of its own; stepping into one for a few minutes explains why the people of Karşıyaka do not regard this street as merely a place to shop. Early in the morning the street is quiet and the stone paving looks empty; in the afternoon the crowd arriving from the pier fills it. If you have chosen the morning for this route, you will catch the hour when the doors have just opened and shopkeepers are washing their frontages. Halfway along, find a bench or a kerb, stop for ten minutes and watch the passers-by. Do not look for the Levantine mansions of the resort era on this street; they stand on streets inside the district such as Çamlık Street, and the mansion built by the Alliotti family in 1914 is one of them. At the pier end of the street there are also tram and minibus stops; anyone wanting to shorten the route can go straight on to Bostanlı from there.

At the end of the street the Karşıyaka station of the İZBAN suburban railway greets you; this is the railway end. Zübeyde Hanım arrived at this station by train in December 1922 and moved into the mansion right beside it. Slow your steps in the last hundred metres of the bazaar before reaching the station, because your next stop, the Latife Hanım Mansion, adjoins it. The spine of the route ends here; the street that began at the sea finishes at the rails.

Source: İzmir Büyükşehir Belediyesi (Karşıyaka Çarşı zemini haberi); Visit İzmir (Karşıyaka Çarşısı); Wikipedia (Karşıyaka); İzmir İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü (Karşıyaka); 1912 Karşıyaka Derneği.

The mansion with a garden right beside the station is where Karşıyaka touches the history of the Republic. This summer house of the Uşakizade family is thought to have been built in the 1860s; Latife Hanım, daughter of Uşakizade Muammer Bey of one of İzmir's well-known families, was born in İzmir in 1898 and met Atatürk in September 1922 at the family's mansion in Göztepe. Atatürk stayed at that mansion for twenty days and the two kept up a correspondence afterwards; the Göztepe mansion is also a museum today, and its restoration, completed in 2001, won a conservation award in 2003. When Zübeyde Hanım fell ill that autumn, her doctors recommended the air of İzmir; Atatürk sent his aide Salih Bozok to find a suitable house and insisted that it should not be an abandoned Greek home. Latife Hanım offered her family's house here in Karşıyaka; it was close to the station, an important detail for an ailing woman. Zübeyde Hanım arrived by train on 18 December 1922, and the door thresholds were removed so that her wheelchair could pass. She stayed here for 28 days and died on 14 January 1923 at the age of 66. Atatürk came to İzmir after his mother's death and married Latife Hanım on 29 January 1923.

The mansion's second life began in 2005, when Karşıyaka Municipality expropriated the 2,958 square metre plot. Restoration began on 11 October 2007, the house opened to the public as a memorial house on 19 May 2008 and was formally inaugurated on 9 July 2008; in 2016 it was registered as a private museum. The restoration preserved the original fabric, from the timber of the interiors to the marble and the trees of the garden. Some of the furnishings were donated by the mansion's heirs and some were purchased.

Begin your visit in the garden. The cream facade and brown shutters describe a plain two-storey summer house; the garden once held pines, palms, a fountain and a windmill. Inside there are three rooms on the ground floor, and three rooms and a bathroom upstairs. The rooms are furnished with period pieces; objects such as a gramophone and a radio tell of domestic life in the 1920s. Wax figures made by Prof. Dr. Yılmaz Büyükerşen place Atatürk, Latife Hanım and Zübeyde Hanım in the rooms. The room in which Zübeyde Hanım died has been arranged as a memorial room; spend the longest time here and notice the doorways without thresholds. The exhibition spaces and the tea garden in the grounds make a good pause for taking in the mansion as a whole.

There is an important warning. The mansion was damaged in the earthquake of 30 October 2020 and the museum was closed for a time; the municipality has announced that restoration continues. Before setting out, check the Karşıyaka Municipality page for whether it is open and for the visiting days; if it is closed, the facade can still be seen from outside the garden wall. For the next stop, take Zübeyde Hanım Street from in front of the station and walk towards Soğukkuyu; the park with the memorial tomb is ten minutes away.

Source: Wikipedia (Latife Hanım Köşkü Anı Evi; Uşakizade Köşkü); Karşıyaka Belediyesi; Karşıyaka Kaymakamlığı; İzmir Büyükşehir Belediyesi; Kültür Portalı; Anadolu Ajansı.

Zübeyde Hanım Street takes you from the station towards Soğukkuyu; Soğukkuyu was a coastal village of Yörük nomads who settled in the nineteenth century, and the park of the memorial tomb lies on this street. Before entering the park, remember whom you have come to see. Zübeyde Hanım was born in Thessaloniki in 1857; she was the daughter of Feyzullah Ağa of the Hacı Sofi family, Yörük nomads resettled from central Anatolia to the west of Thessaloniki. She had five children from her marriage to Ali Rıza Efendi and lost her husband in 1888, while Mustafa was still at primary school. After the Balkan War she migrated to Istanbul with her daughter Makbule and settled in a house in Akaretler. She died on 14 January 1923 in İzmir, where she had come for treatment, and was buried in the courtyard of the Ferik Osman Paşa Mosque; the grave still lies within the park where that courtyard stands.

The form of the monument is the result of a dispute. In 1938 the mayor of İzmir, Behçet Uz, presented an ornate design for a monument; Atatürk rejected it and asked that only a heavy stone be placed over the grave and that its surroundings become a children's playground. The monument was built by İzmir Municipality in 1940 in keeping with that wish. The rock you see is pink granite brought from Mount Yamanlar; it is four metres high and weighs ten tons. A relief bust of Zübeyde Hanım is carved on it, and beneath it only a short inscription states that Atatürk's mother is buried here and that she died in 1923. The original gravestone removed during construction has been kept at the İzmir Archaeological Museum since 2005.

In the park, first stand before the ceremonial ground, then approach the monument. Read the relief in side light; the midday sun flattens the granite, and the morning and late afternoon hours are better. Walk once around the rock and look at its texture; the absence of ornament was a deliberate choice. The children's playground still stands beside the monument, as Atatürk wished. The park is a first-degree protected site; the planting, the lighting and the ceremonial ground were redesigned, a tea garden was built over the pool and the grounds are watched around the clock. Sit on a bench for ten minutes and watch the everyday life of the park; this place is as much the neighbourhood's park as it is a monument.

Ceremonies are held here every year on 14 January and on Mother's Day; wreaths are laid, a moment of silence is observed, the national anthem is sung and schoolchildren recite poems. Besides the district governorship and the municipality, organisations such as the Turkish Mothers' Association and the Turkish Women's Union take part in the ceremony. On those days expect crowds and official delegations, so choose another day for a quiet visit. When taking photographs, avoid posing in front of the monument; this is a grave. For the last stop of the route, return along the street to the station and from there to the pier; you will cross to Bostanlı by tram or on foot along the shore.

Source: Wikipedia (Zübeyde Hanım Anıt Mezarı; Zübeyde Hanım); İzmir Büyükşehir Belediyesi (Zübeyde Hanım Anıt Mezarı ve Parkı); Anadolu Ajansı; Wikipedia (Karşıyaka).

For the last stop of the day, board the T1 tram at the Karşıyaka İskele stop; after passing Nikah Sarayı and Yunuslar, the third stop is Bostanlı İskele. The line opened on 11 April 2017 and follows the shore along its 8.8 kilometre route. If you prefer to walk, follow the shore road westwards; it is a flat coastal walk of under two kilometres that keeps the sea on your left the whole way. The name of Bostanlı tells its own story: in the records of 1890 the place appears as Menemen İskelesi, in 1900 it is called Papaskala, meaning "the priest's pier" in Greek, and the melons and watermelons from the Menemen plain unloaded at this pier gave the district its present name. So the pier on this shore is not only for ferries; for more than a century it has been the reason this coast exists.

Today's Bostanlı Ferry Terminal was built between 1989 and 1993 by the Turkish Maritime Organisation; it spreads over an area of about twenty thousand square metres and has an operations building of two thousand five hundred square metres. Passenger ferries leave from here for Konak, Alsancak, Üçkuyular and Karşıyaka, and the car ferry also operates from this pier. The terminal is run today by İZDENİZ, the maritime company founded by the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality in 1992. The Bostanlı İskele tram stop is directly in front of it; step-free access and a cycle path have been provided. Pass the terminal and keep walking along the shore; Balıkçı Baba Park is one of the resting places on this coast, and the district's market is held on Wednesdays.

Your real goal is the point where the Bostanlı Stream flows into the gulf. Two structures opened here in 2016 changed the character of the waterfront; the Bostanlı Footbridge and the Sunset Terrace are works designed by the architect Evren Başbuğ and his team for the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality. The design was done between 2014 and 2015, construction began in 2015 and finished in 2016, and the structures were opened to the public in August 2016; the total built area is 8,800 square metres. Both were the first built phase of the Karşıkıyı section of İzmirDeniz, the metropolitan municipality's plan for redesigning the shoreline. The design team describes both structures as everyday gathering places that reconnect city dwellers with the waterfront, and ties this to a low-tension vision of life for İzmir. The bridge joins the two banks of the stream with an asymmetrical, gently arched form; beneath the arch, boats can pass to the floating dock at the mouth of the stream. The structure is steel and the cladding is thermally treated natural wood; the stepped wooden surface is also made for sitting.

First cross the bridge, stop in the middle and look at the mouth of the stream and out over the gulf. Then come to the terrace; it is a series of wooden platforms descending towards the sea from an artificial hill planted with trees. Choose one of the upper steps and sit down; the designers drew this surface to leave people face to face with the sea and the setting sun. The sun sets in the west of the gulf, behind the hills of the opposite shore; the turn of the light from orange to violet takes half an hour, so take your place at least half an hour before sunset. In the evening hours the terrace fills up and weekdays are quieter; in autumn the wind from the west can be sharp, so bring an extra thin layer. When darkness falls, return to the Bostanlı terminal; a direct ferry sails to Konak, check the current timetable on the İZDENİZ website, and let the day end the way it began.

Source: Wikipedia (Bostanlı, Karşıyaka; Bostanlı Vapur İskelesi); Wikipedia (Karşıyaka; Tram İzmir); Arkiv ve Arkitera (Bostanlı Yaya Köprüsü ve Gün Batımı Terası); İzmir Büyükşehir Belediyesi (İZDENİZ hatları).