On a typical Sunday in July at Sailor’s Cafe in the Aegean resort of Alacati, three young couples are loudly debating whether they should just stay on in the Aegean for good rather than return to the rat race in Istanbul.
An older customer turns to us with a smirk, displaying the full signs of a laid-back Aegean’s disdain of the tense, competitive and loud Istanbulians. “They all say the same thing,” he whispers. “So many Istanbul residents dream of settling in Izmir or one of the pretty Aegean towns around the city.”