Ancient Pergamon

After seeing Troy in the north near Canakkale, we headed south for Bergama, location of ancient Pergamon. This town was further in from the coast and the weather just kept getting hotter. Before heading inland, we stopped in at Dikili, a seaside resort town for Turks it seems. Only two 3-star hotels, fully booked out and the rest of the town being holiday apartments. We decided to try our luck in Bergama.

Bergama had two 4 star hotels and we found a room at the "Berksoy" on the main street into town. It was quite nice and a welcome relief from the more austere accommodation we had in Canakkale at least you could swing a cat in the bathroom. Of course, true to form, there was a wedding reception that night and I suppose we were lucky to get the room as they were near to being fully booked as well. We had had a long days travel that day (Sunday) and took some time to relax in the room under the A/C before heading out for dinner. Again, the cuisine was not much different from what we had already experienced on the road here. It was fast looking like the best food we were to have in Turkey was at the Asli restaurant in Istanbul. But the atmosphere was pleasant, with grapevines and fountains and excellent service, so we went to bed happy.

The next morning we got up early for breakfast, but as usual, the wedding guests were faster and had denuded the breakfast victuals. No plates, cutlery, glasses etc.

The view of Bergama from Pergamon

After breakfast we headed out to check out the ancient sites of the Akropolis and the Asclepion. On the way stopped in at the Red Basilica (2nd century AD Roman with Egyptian statues) which sits among the oldest Ottoman houses in the city.
The Akropolis dominated the scene from the high hill overlooking the town. In fact we had taken a drive up the precarious road the day before to be sure we knew how to find it and felt we on the edge of a precipice. So narrow and yet a tourist bus must pass beside us. The route to the top seemed to go forever, but once there we found a park and were immediately assisted by a strangely helpful Turk in dark sunglasses. The view from the top was amazing however, and the site really inspired the imagination to fill in the intervening centuries and wonder how the place must have looked and what life must have been like for the privileged who got to live up top. From here, we could look down on the town and the dam that provided water to modern Bergama and see the remains of the Roman aquaduct in the distance. After returning to our car it was time for some apple tea and soft drink under the cooling shade of the cyprus trees of the taverna. There we again met the mysterious Turk in the sunglasses who invited us to check out his carpet factory in the town. We politely told him we weren't in the market having no way to carry said carpet nor any place to put it when we returned home. Curiously, he lost interest in us after that.

The Healing Waters (today)

The Asclepion is the site where folk came to be healed by sacred waters of Artemis. And if that failed, the only option was to head to Hierapolis for a final cleanse  before entering the afterlife. Again, we found ourselves imagining the residents of ancient Pergamon coming here for spa baths and relaxing massages to rejuvinate themselves before getting on with being a Greek in Anatolia.

Check out the pictures of Bergama here.