The long route to Izmir - a few more pics (#EWBC)

Jim has described below our interesting, though lengthy, journey to Izmir. Particular highlights were:

1. the people: fascinating to see the ever-changing melting pot of people joining and leaving the train - young and old, traditional and modern attire, the railway personnel - but most of all to experience the friendliness and helpfulness of everyone we rubbed shoulders with, including our charming taxi driver, Sedat, who gave us his personal number just in case we ever go back to Bursa
2. the landscape: the mix of rural and industrial, the changing architecture, the stations, some in large towns, some in small farming villages
3. being immersed in the language - very few spoke English so we had to grapple with greeting people, understanding placenames, making sense of the announcements in the train, ordering food and drink, ...

 The empty terminus at Bandirma

An hour before departure - the empty waiting room

... just the bloggers' luggage

Our train awaits - the '6 Eylül Express'

The firmly closed ferry port

The ferry boat - no sprinting today!

One of the many stations we stopped at along the route. The railway is a good employer - here there were three officials and a guard