After the first day’s fatigue and short exploration, we only had two days left on the island.. In fact, three days in total was more than enough to explore this island.
We decided on which side of the island we would go before we had a detailed map showing bus times.. Our location is the center and the easternmost point of the island; It was on the side of the Aegean Sea facing Turkey, namely Çeşme.. In fact, other parts of the island were generally mountainous and rugged.
The map we had showed the departure times of all the buses and what was happening on the other side of the island from a touristic point of view.. The transportation system was similar to the system implemented by the Istanbul and Ankara Metropolitan Municipalities in Turkey.. There were the latest model Volvo city buses in the center of the island, and green old Mercedes 302s, which we can call private public buses, in the south and north of the island.. We decided to go to the beaches in the south. After checking the departure time of our green buses, we packed our backpacks and went to the first stop.. After buying the 1.15 Euro bus ticket, we got on the Mercedes, which turned into an oven from the heat.. The bus, which departed without skipping the departure time, even for a second, glided inwardly from the center of the island and headed south.. As I was walking through narrow streets, I could hardly make out the houses in large gardens on the right and left.. Each of the houses was surrounded by high walls.. When I asked why, I learned that this is the only way to be protected from thieves who occasionally haunt the high-income gum trees in the gardens of the houses.
After half an hour, we came to Aya Fotini Beach.. Aya Fotini was a small quiet town reminiscent of our seaside resorts.. Everywhere there were summer residents, those who went to swim and those who came back from the sea.
The blue flag symbolizing Greece, the European Union and the cleanliness of the sea on three poles standing side by side with the sea immediately behind. combined, it made one’s mind blue. We could see Çeşme because the weather was sunny and clear.. It was an incredible thing.. There were two different worlds, two different countries in such a close distance.
I was a little disappointed when I learned that there is no sand beach anywhere on the island. the sea of stones looked pretty bad.
White outside around the beach; Houses with windows, doors and joinery in Aegean blue made me feel very warm.. It was also exciting to see that unique image that we are used to seeing on postcards.
We went down to the beach.. I dived deep into the opposite shore over the burning stones. The opposite shore as far as I could see was Cesme, probably Altinkum.. A woman came to us.. They started talking to Alex. It was not difficult for me to understand that there are words similar to Turkish in it.. The woman was one of the typical curious people to meet in Turkey.. It was lucky that the woman didn’t understand English while Alex was translating Greek-English. The woman, who is curious about me because I am Turkish, came to Chios for a week from Athens.. After complaining about inflation and the high cost of living, he did not deny that he loved the Turks but longed for the opposite shores.. Alex’s translation was getting more and more nationalistic. The words reached such a level that, according to the general rumor in Chios, “When God donated the most beautiful sand beaches to Çeşme; He has given pebble-filled beaches all over the island.” In a way the rumor was true. ‘Cause my eyes could see nothing but gravel. I thought it was jealousy and tried not to care too much.
I thought I was hungry. Alex told me not to eat much because his mother is coming and he will take us to dinner in the northern part of the island.. Hearing the promise of food, I felt that I had to shop when I looked at the clock and saw that it was one hour before the departure of the green buses, which is our only chance to return.. I said to Alex and made my way towards the town entrance.. If I’m not mistaken, there was a market there.. I was thinking of quenching my hunger by getting something salty. I entered the market, said a few words to the lady on duty, and then we tried to agree.. What it showed as a savory one was the French croissant.. Longing for salty bread made from wheat I didn’t want to eat this stuff with sweet yeast in it. After spinning around in the market, I took Pringles and went back to the beach.. I think this was the most suitable common food for my taste.
We took many photos at the beach from different angles as the time of the bus approached.. Then we packed up and spent our last minutes exploring the town.. I could not resist the insistence of Alex, who said that it is a cocoa drink unique to this region, and I bought this mixture, whose name I do not know.. While waiting for the bus, I really needed to cool off.
When the time of the bus came, we passed the narrow streets without interruption and came to the island center.. From the moment we met Alex’s mother, it was clear that we didn’t really like each other that much.. Alex’s mother was a 55-year-old civil servant working for the Municipality of Thessaloniki.. The reason why she is a woman who has serious problems with her son and can’t keep her family life alive is because after getting together, Alex said “this is my new family” when he stayed with us in Izmir.. Both I and Alex’s mother knew that this was a very serious statement.. Jealousy syndrome would often confront us after this stage.. Hoping that the tension wouldn’t last too long, we took a different bus to the north of the island.
Alex and his mother have a they sat on the chair. I was in a different seat with a young boy next to me. There was a serious noise on the bus. It was clear from his eyes that the boy next to me wanted to talk.. He couldn’t stand it and said something in Greek. I said I don’t understand in English. He then presented a bunch of English words he knew.. He seemed to know basic English.. However, it was revealed that he mixed the numbers with each other when he wanted to say his age and went from color to color.. He couldn’t hide his surprise at my answer to the question where are you from, which he barely asked.. He didn’t compare me to a Turk.. He told that he came to Izmir and ate Karagöz Baklava in Kemeraltı, paying a very high price with the help of hand and arm signals.. The image of the Turks in his head surprised me as well.. While we were talking, I realized that we had come to the place where we were going to eat.
This place, which says tavern, is located by the sea, but there are mosquitoes. it looked like a hunting place. Tourists coming to the island generally preferred the south and the center of the island.. Employees who saw us coming emptied their spread chairs and greeted us.. I couldn’t understand anything from the Greek alphabet menu that was in front of me.. I ordered spaghetti because I am not good with seafood.. I thought what did Alex’s mom mean when she called the waitress “mono Imam”?. When the food arrived, this thought of mine was suddenly enlightened.. Alex was counting the dishes. “Imambayildi” was his mother’s preferred dish. Imambayildi in us has taken the letter “i” here, but its service and taste have not changed.. Fried cheddar, which came as “Kasari”, was served with lemon in a plate and represented the traditional and always-on-table Greek cheese.. The pickled beetroot, which came with the name “Beetroot”, also showed that the Greek cuisine, which was mentioned at every opportunity, that it was close to Turkey, really had this affinity.. After eating a piece of “Watermelon” after dinner, we took the bus back home.
Alex’s After I offered her mother the Turkish delight I bought for 1 YTL from Izmir Bus Station, I was wondering how the delight I tasted in the Turkish delights was provided at this price when I saw the woman who hungrily eats these sweets that I will seriously consider eating.. Glad to see the latest coins in our pocket pay off.
After sending Alex’s mother off to her hotel. We went home excitedly because we were going to go to Thessaloniki the next day.
