Konak Square and Kemeraltı Bazaar: Clock Tower, Caravanserais and Coffee

Every walk in historic Izmir begins on Konak Square (Konak Meydanı), where the Konak Metro station, the seafront tram and the cross-bay ferry pier meet the Aegean water. At the centre of the palm-shaded plaza rises Izmir's undisputed symbol: the 25-metre Konak Clock Tower (İzmir Saat Kulesi), designed by Levantine French architect Raymond Charles Père in delicate Moorish filigree marble in 1901 to mark the 25th anniversary of Sultan Abdülhamid II's accession. Right beside it stands the jewel-like octagonal Yalı Mosque (Konak Camii, 1755), faced in turquoise and cobalt Kütahya ceramic tiles.

Navigating Kemeraltı Bazaar (Since the 1650s)

Step behind the Yalı Mosque and you enter Kemeraltı, one of the largest and liveliest open-air historic bazaars in the Mediterranean, covering 270 hectares with over 15,000 workshops, mosques, synagogues and tea gardens. Originally curving around a silted-up inner Roman harbour inlet that was filled in during the 17th century (giving main thoroughfare Anafartalar Caddesi its distinctive curved horseshoe shape), Kemeraltı is where locals actually shop rather than a stage set for tourists:

• Kızlar Ağası Hanı (1744): near the Hisarönü entrance, this two-storey Ottoman stone-and-brick caravanserai is the architectural crown of the bazaar. Browse antique copperware, carpets and vinyl records on the upper gallery, then sit on a low woven stool in the central courtyard to watch dibek kahvesi (Turkish coffee) brewed slowly in a tiny copper pot buried directly in hot embers alongside a piece of mastic-scented Turkish delight.
• Hisar Mosque (Hisar Camii, 1592): the largest and most ornate Ottoman mosque in Izmir, surrounded on three sides by the narrow Şükran Lokantası and Hisarönü dining alleys where charcoal grills smoke with İzmir köfte and çöp şiş.
• Abacıoğlu Hanı and Mirkelamoğlu Hanı: peaceful 18th-century stone courtyards shaded by vines along Anafartalar Caddesi, ideal for a mid-walk lunch of homemade Aegean olive-oil dishes.

Havra Street (Havra Sokağı) and the Sephardic Synagogue Quarter

At the eastern curve of Anafartalar Caddesi opens Havra Sokağı ("Synagogue Street"), the loudest, freshest open-air food market lane in the city, piled with barrels of aged Izmir tulum cheese, green olives, Aegean herbs, figs and freshly caught red mullet. Immediately behind the market stalls sits a unique cluster of nine contiguous 16th- to 19th-century Sephardic Jewish synagogues (including Bikur Holim, Algazi, Señora and Shalom), built around hidden garden courtyards by families who arrived from Spain and Portugal after 1492 and currently being united into a cultural heritage museum complex.