The weather on the coast just doesn't want to get any better. Rain, some wind and, above all, low temperatures mean we have to keep turning on the heating.
As soon as we've made ourselves cosy and warm in the Felix, we head south, or rather east. Always along the coast. Instead of magnificent sunsets, we see flamingos strutting in large salt lakes.
But patience pays off: we finally find it. Our weather app shows 8 hours of sunshine in Izmir. Only we have one problem: Izmir is the third largest city in Turkey and, with a population of around 4 million, doesn't necessarily have the charm we were hoping for from a few quiet days by the sea.
So, despite the sunshine, we simply drive through Izmir, past huge new development areas and high-rise buildings, past kilometres of beach promenades and hotel complexes for thousands of people. Past huge shopping centres and supermarkets.
Into the mountainous landscape of the Çeşme Yarımadası peninsula. The mountains rise up to the right and left of the road, revealing views of the turquoise-green waters of the Turkish Aegean in the valleys. Simply marvellous.
At the end of the peninsula, where the road simply doesn't go any further, lies the town of Çeşme. A sophisticated harbour town for the rich and super-rich who spend their summers here. (And for two or three days for us.)
We go for tea in the marina and stroll through the summery harbour district. Again and again we are approached by Turks and greeted warmly in pretty good German. "I was in Germany for a long time in the 70s" or "I lived in Germany in the 90s" are the standard phrases.
Opposite the harbour, we find a fantastic place to spend the night with a wonderful view of the bay and even the Greek island of Chios. We pass a really interesting-looking building complex. "Let's go and have a Çay there," I say to Gerd. Unfortunately, our terrace café turns out to be a private flat block. Fine, then we won't.
In the afternoon, while we're enjoying a few slices of Christmas cake, there's a knock on our window. A Swiss woman is beaming - at last she can speak dialect again. She spotted our licence plate on her walk and immediately invited us for an aperitif. She lives right over there, in a flat in the round building, in "our terrace café". How funny.
As luck would have it, we are not invited for tea, but for prosecco in one of the terrace flats. We are given a guided tour of the building, are allowed to feed the dogs and cats, marvel at the indoor and outdoor pools and spend a wonderful evening with a Swiss-Turkish woman.
We question them endlessly. What it's like to live here. How politics is currently influencing life, what the many street dogs are all about and why there are so many Christmas decorations in the shops here. Without any Christianity.
A cosy end to a really sunny and beautiful day. Çeşme, even if we're not necessarily your target group or price range, we like you!
Merci for "travelling with us
We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.
Do you think our travel experiences might be of interest to others? Then you can share the Share post quietly. By e-mail or however you want to do it.
In addition, if you haven't already done so, you can use our Newsletter subscribe. Here you will receive all our experiences in your mailbox whenever we publish something new or once a week on Fridays: live-pur.ch/newsletter
We are also very happy to hear your views, your tips or your questions. Just comment on the post!
