you know the most popular girl in school… the one everyone lusts after…
the one you are “supposed to like” because every body else does…
well, that’s istanbul.

and you know the most prim and proper one. every strand of hair in place, shiny shoes and pressed clothes… immaculately striking!
ankara for you…

then there’s the “kind of pretty” one. she has an aura, a ‘je ne sais quoi’ …
she wears her grandmas’s pearls with black leather pants; and she plays the guitar, sitting on the grass, legs crossed, singing with the smokiest voice…

and her hair is always messy in the sexiest way…. and she smells of the sea and shines like the sun;
and carries a notebook and a pencil unlike hi-tech crowds…
and although she speaks several languages, she will tell you exactly how she feels with just one glance…

she walks by and you go “mmmmm…”

you don’t even mention her to your friends, fearing someone other than you might notice this fairy….

because izmir is one beauty you would love to keep to yourself!
………….

it’s rome with history laced all over, and paris with a port to embrace the blue.

and the chill of a fjord cooling the lava oozing from Etna,

all the while blinking an eye to a greek island, nonchalant and breezy.

london might be calling but izmir has all calls on hold; smiling – for when there’s the
songs of smyrna playing, mind goes out the window

the same window that opens to thousands of years back and hundreds of years ahead.

…

no siestas in this city; the buzz of the metropolis mixes with the buzz of a chilled glass of wine across the Aegean;

and with that in your veins, you can’t help but stare at an artisan on the street corner and notice how tall he is standing with his back leaning against empires that have walked his land.

dynasties, empires, republics rumbling under the footsteps of gods, emperors and sultans,
coloring ‘izmir, blue’ to majestical purple and the opulent gold…

and only in izmir, the turkish flag is made up of the crescent moon against the star of david, waving against a tall cross…
prayer from the minaret blending into a hymn and the morning prayers in the synagogue –

for only izmir doesn’t “tolerate” other cultures and religions

– but respects them in their entirety.

……………

follow in the footsteps of Revelation, and create your wonder of the world to add to the ones we have here;

or stand still and you’ll see all ruins standing still
and listen and notice all “still ideas” fall into ruins,

izmir…. another page in history.

think about it.

if it was good enough for byzantine emperors, ottoman sultans and greek gods, it may be good enough for you.