---
title: Izmir, Turkey is a special place for us
date: 2010-10-10T16:52:37Z
modified: 2010-10-10T16:52:37Z
permalink: "https://350.org/izmir-turkey-special-place-us/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: We've spent weeks in the area doing workshops for organizers from across Central Asia.
wpid: 26690
author: Bill McKibben
---

We've spent weeks in the area doing workshops for organizers from across Central Asia. (I even got rearended by a tractor trailer truck there) So we were awfully happy to see this picture from the city that used to be called Smyrna, and was the birthplace of Homer:

![](https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/5068061068_b3bdc91bda_z.jpg)

The group cycled from Bostanlı Port, to Uckuyular Port. At the end of the tour, the founder of the Persembe Aksamı Bisikletcileri, Mr. Muhlis Dilmac shared the motto of the day; "Get off your cars, ride your bicycles!" and the target of the event; "We want our bicycle roads, so that we can help reaching the level of 350 ppm."