Today's post, the first of our "Where to live in Izmir?" series, courtesy of Meryem. Click on any of the photos to enlarge. Note by: Izmir Blogger
My name is Meryem and I live in the area "Karsiyaka" of Izmir. Karsiyaka literally means "On the other side" and it is, from the city center of Alsancak and Konak. A road connects the parts, but on a regular basis a passenger ferry crosses the bay. There is also ferry for the cars to Bostanli boat terminal. Opposite the boat terminal (in Turkish: Iskele) of Karsiyaka you can find the busy centre with many shops and restaurants. If you continue to walk along the seaside, you have apartments with the following view from the balcony (see photo top left). The apartments with sea view are quite nice, some bigger than others. Some buildings look very nice on the outside, and you can take it from me, that those are maintained well and are nice from the inside as well. 
My name is Meryem and I live in the area "Karsiyaka" of Izmir. Karsiyaka literally means "On the other side" and it is, from the city center of Alsancak and Konak. A road connects the parts, but on a regular basis a passenger ferry crosses the bay. There is also ferry for the cars to Bostanli boat terminal. Opposite the boat terminal (in Turkish: Iskele) of Karsiyaka you can find the busy centre with many shops and restaurants. If you continue to walk along the seaside, you have apartments with the following view from the balcony (see photo top left). The apartments with sea view are quite nice, some bigger than others. Some buildings look very nice on the outside, and you can take it from me, that those are maintained well and are nice from the inside as well. When you pass the statue of dolphins and small basin with water, you are in the middle of Karsiyaka and Bostanli. Opposite of the "Bostanli Iskele" (a very busy place as cars also leave form here to the other side) the area of Bostanli starts. The liveliness stems from the many shops and restaurants and some nice cafes.
On Wednesdays, there is huge market where they sell fruit, vegetables, cheese, nuts, clothes and shoes!
The area furthest to the left, Mavisehir, is relatively the newest area and very popular among richer Turkish families. It is a matter of taste if you like these high 32 store buildings, although the colored villas are quite large and have a garden as well. (see picture of pink colored house) EGE Park is the shopping area, with many luxurious shops, a bowling centre and cinema.
So this was in short a tour through "the other side" of Izmir. I have been living here for 4 years now and I like it very much! All the shops you can find are here, there is enough parking space, the parks along the seaside are green, and go on for a few kilometers, it is easily reachable by the ferry from Alsançak... The only thing is, there aren't a lot of houses with gardens to be found, only the colored villas in Mavisehir... So if you don't mind living in an apartment, than Karsiyaka is absolutely worth checking out!
More pictures of Bostanli market
On Wednesdays, there is huge market where they sell fruit, vegetables, cheese, nuts, clothes and shoes!
The area furthest to the left, Mavisehir, is relatively the newest area and very popular among richer Turkish families. It is a matter of taste if you like these high 32 store buildings, although the colored villas are quite large and have a garden as well. (see picture of pink colored house) EGE Park is the shopping area, with many luxurious shops, a bowling centre and cinema. So this was in short a tour through "the other side" of Izmir. I have been living here for 4 years now and I like it very much! All the shops you can find are here, there is enough parking space, the parks along the seaside are green, and go on for a few kilometers, it is easily reachable by the ferry from Alsançak... The only thing is, there aren't a lot of houses with gardens to be found, only the colored villas in Mavisehir... So if you don't mind living in an apartment, than Karsiyaka is absolutely worth checking out!
More pictures of Bostanli market
4 comments:
Great review about izmir particularly, bostanli. I am planning to move to Izmir with my wife and I have no idea which part of Izmir is the modest safe and people are open-minded.
Good luck with the move Reza.
In regards to your comment which part of Izmir is the most safest area to live, well I would have to say it comes down to about three areas Bostanli which is in the Karsiyaka area, Guzelyali is also supposed to be safe and Bornova. This of course depends on who you talk to about personal safety, who you hang out with when you are in these locations and whose wife you sleep with. If you sleep with someone else's wife then you would get an ass kicking wherever you are.
It's all relative to how safe you are? In my personal opinion all areas of Izmir are reasonable safe in daylight hours. In the evenings and especially if you have a Biravoo (a huge amount of beer with your own personal pump) you should be weary of who is around you, what they are doing and as ever keep your wallet/purse safe.
Car theft is virtually non existent as far as I know. In the UK if you stopped at certain traffic lights when the lights changed to red you would be lucky to still have your wheels and not be propped up on bricks. I think we have more trouble due to the UK's own problem of the harmonious mix of nationals from different countries. It is not very harmonious at all and causes tensions, and tensions lead to crimes, fights, drinking binges, hooliganism and general kicking the shit out of of council and privately owned property. This is Britain 2009, what a warm and welcoming place. When I came here from the UK I was still in that frame of mind of looking over my shoulder all of the time for the occasional knife attack or thrown punch but as it turned out I began relaxing and didn't gain the same fear.
Izmir is a lot more relaxed and I don't doubt there is crime but it is undercover and as long as you don't go looking for it, I am sure you will not find it.
Thank you very much for your descriptive comment and I appreciate that.
Actually, I was thinking about karsiyaka but I am now intended to rent an apt. in Alsancak, Kordon area. I think it's more lively.
Mavishehir is supposed to be a good choice as well but I have no idea how much does it cost to rent an furnished apt in their complex.
Alsancak is the central hub I believe of Izmir. Usually if you have to get anything big done or purchase something extra special you will probably only find it here. Mavisehir is at the opposite of the bay has some great villas over there possible rent of 2,000 upwards. And the main blocks near the EGS shopping centre would possibly set you back 1,000 - 1,500 in rent. These are estimates. Mavisehir can be lively as well if you like shopping centres.
There are three fairly big shopping centers on the doorstep if you lived in the Mavisehir apartments. The first and closest is EGS, the second is Carrefour a big french owned shopping center and the third one is Tesco/Kipa supermarket. All of these have the main shop as well as extra retail shops on the premises, the biggest of these would be Kipa.
It is a trade off of what you want exactly, if you want all action and no shopping centres with problems parking your car then Alsancak it is. If you want less problems parking your car and access to three fairly reasonable shopping centres then Mavisehir. The favourite shopping center amongst many and the best in my opinion is the open air shopping center area called Forum Bornova and this is neither near Alsancak nor Mavisehir but if you lived in Mavisehir Forum Bornova as the crow flies would be a good choice.
It's up to you I guess, if you are here then you can get a taste for the place but if you are not then I suggest you search around for even more information since not being here may put you in a place you don't want to be. Obviously with Alsancak being the main hub you are likely to get more crime there.
Whatever you decide good luck!!
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