Konak audiotours

Konak is the old soul of Izmir, a dense district where the Ottoman bazaar world and the Aegean sea breeze meet at Konak Square. At its center stands the clock tower built in 1901 to mark Sultan Abdulhamid II's 25th jubilee, a slender neo-Moorish structure that has become the symbol of the entire city. Behind it, the labyrinthine Kemeralti Bazaar stretches for hundreds of stalls selling everything from spices to silverware, punctuated by mosques, synagogues, and hans that date back to the 17th century.

Above the square, the hilltop fortress of Kadifekale was already ancient when Alexander the Great is said to have dreamed of its reconstruction in the 4th century BC.

Down by the waterfront, the neighbourhood of Alsancak fills with locals at outdoor tables in the evenings, while the restored Asansor elevator, built in 1907 by a Jewish philanthropist to help residents climb the steep cliff face, still carries passengers between street levels in its art-deco cabin.