Blogs from Bergama, Aegean, Turkey, Middle East

Leisurely start to the day – we could see it was going to be a scorcher - & off on a dolmus to town. We were dead lucky as 2 came alomg & we jumped on the one that went quite close to the base of the mountain where the Pergamon cable car started. These dolmus cost 1.75 TL each which is about 45p – bargain. Even better if you know where they're going! So, we get off the dolmus & walk on up the hill to base camp, passing carpet shops & the like...oh dear. We buy our cable car ticket for 26TL; in this ticket office there are 3 people...but a chap comes out of a different office, tears the ticket, shows us through the 'automated turnstile', pushes the lift door & says bye ... read more

Had a lovely meal last night – a sea bass big enough for 2 to share. Really well cooked over charcoal. Awoke to a beautiful blue sky & no wind unlike yesterday. Off to the showers – no hot water. We reckon the kitchen had used it all last night & it was too early to be refreshed. I washed Cathy's hair in the outside washing up area which was separate. We passed so many old relics of WW2, bunkers, firing positions etc. We wanted to stop at a memorial but saw it late & a coach was too close behind to brake too hard; we've made a note to go on our return. The town of Gallipoli is huge & not what we were expecting so didn't drive in Off now to catch a ferry ... read more

Set off in the morning for the Bergama Archeological Museum. German archeologists basically ransacked the ruins around Bergama in the late 1800s, and shipped most of the important pieces back to Germany (that's why the Pergamum Altar is in Berlin). What they decided wasn't worth the hassle of lugging back, they left to the people of Bergama (that was nice, wasn't it?). All of these cast-offs are in the Bergama Museum, which actually is a pretty cool place. What I liked was the model the museum staff had put together of what the Altar of Zeus once looked like. Made the mistake of having an Efes beer for lunch. It seems like I'd learn - beer and brutal heat don't mix, especially when you're walking. So I slowly made my way out to the Asklepion, which ... read more

Left in the morning for Pergamum, what the Turks call Bergama. Since the towns are so old and small in the center, you have to take a shuttle out to the bus station, which is usually somewhere on the fringes of town. Then you can finally get on the bus and get going. It was a beautiful drive down - we followed the coastal rode most of the time, and only really cut inland when we turned off for Bergama. One thing: it's incredible how long it takes to go relatively small distances. The trip to Bergama logically should have taken a couple of hours. But the Turks are very slow, patient people, and don't seem to really care about time. Randomly the bus just stops in the middle of nowhere, and some person gets off ... read more

Yesterday we made our way up the coast of the Aegean to Bergama (Pergamum). We are travelling to Canakkale and this was a good way to break up that journey, while offering us the opportunity to visit the spectacular Acropolis. Pergamum was one of the ancient world's major powers during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. Lysimachus, one of Alexander the Great's generals and friend, stored his lootings up here. The old city is perched high on a hill and has a spectacular view of the surrounding plains - it would be easy to see it's appeal for defensive purposes, and in fact Pergamum was able to hold off the Gauls here making them quite celebrated during Hellenic times. For some reason, the ruler Attalus III (Lysimachus' son) bequeathed Pergamum to Rome on his death in ... read more