İzmir facts for kids
İzmir is a city in the west of Turkey. It has one of the biggest seaports in the Aegean Sea region and all of Turkey. İzmir is a popular destination for tourists, who come for beaches and cultural tours. It has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa in the Köppen climate classification). Izmir is the third largest city in Turkey.
This is an ancient city; many scholars think Homer was born in Smyrna. An earthquake destroyed it in 187 AD, and it was rebuilt. The Greek name for this formerly Greek city is Smyrna. That name was also used in English until the 20th century. About 30 km (20 miles) south of İzmir, there is an ancient Greek city named Ephesus.
İzmir was a candidate for Expo 2015. However, Milan had more support, so İzmir lost.
Images for kids
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Karabel relief of the Luwian local leader "Tarkasnawa, King of Myra" is near Kemalpaşa, a few kilometres to the east of İzmir.
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oinage of Klazomenai, circa 386–301 BC in Urla, slightly outside İzmir urban zone, is associated with some of the oldest known records of trade in olive oil.
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St. John's Cathedral (1874) is dedicated to John the Evangelist, who wrote the Book of Revelation and sent the scrolls describing his visions to the Seven churches of Asia, including Smyrna (İzmir).
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Designed by Gustave Eiffel in 1890, the Konak Pier has numerous shops, cafés and restaurants.
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Skyscrapers in the Bayraklı district of İzmir
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İzmir Atatürk Stadium (1964) hosted the 1971 Mediterranean Games, the 2005 Summer Universiade and the 2011 European Team Championships, among other track and field events. It is also used by İzmir's football clubs.
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Gürsel Aksel Stadium is the main stadium of Göztepe S.K. in Konak, İzmir. Göztepe reached the semi-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (which later became the UEFA Cup) in the 1968–69 season, and the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in the 1969–70 season; becoming the first ever Turkish football club to play a semi-final game in Europe.
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Tunç Soyer of the CHP is the current Mayor of İzmir, elected in 2019.
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Key Museum in Izmir has a collection of 130 automobiles and 40 motorcycles. It is the largest car museum in Turkey.
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Alsancak railway station (1858) in İzmir was opened as the terminus of the İzmir–Aydın line, the oldest railway line in Turkey and the second-oldest railway line in the Ottoman Empire after the Cairo–Alexandria line (1856) in the Ottoman Eyalet of Egypt.