I've no idea when this photo was taken, except that it was 1978. 

We wanted to travel to India by public transport, but inflation in Turkey at the time was running at about 400% (have I even got this right?) and we weren't going to manage to get there and back on our budget. Not wishing to be repatriated from India we opted to travel from Istanbul to Izmir by train, en route to the Greek island of Chios.  

On the train we met a lovely Turkish couple who fed us apricots and hazelnuts and then they invited us to stay the night at their house in Izmir. They very kindly took us out for a meal and I met my first ever green chilli, which was quite a shock as they were unknown in the UK at the time.

The wife spoke no English, but the husband's English was quite good as he'd worked on an American airbase. Photos were generally not so good in those days, not with our little camera anyway, but we had this photo developed and framed, and sent it to them as a thankyou. 

I've been watching Turkey with Simon Reeve and it's brought back memories!