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Published: February 20th 2020
Pergamon
Acropolis theatreSo its so long Ayvalik! We had another weird dining experience last night at Mira Steak house. Another one of those "Oh, come and have a look at the cabinet....it will be like a live menu!", nights.
T-bone steak for Shane and a turkish kebab for moi. He also brings us a "spoonful of everything" from the Mezze cabinet and a little something extra "on the house". Apparently it is raw meat with spices and red rice all minced together. And it's delicious! There is so much food we are clearly not going to be able to eat our main meals! I have a rule usually, that we dont eat anything that looks a bit dubious the night before a travel day, because on the odd occasion it has all gone to shit, quite literally, the next morning, and that isnt a nice way to travel. Tonight however, we have thrown caution the wind and the mezze is delicious.And surprise, surprise, we did manage to eat our main meals!?
The bus to Izmir is around two and a half hours, and we've got an apartment booked. The owner offered to have one of his
Pergamon
Acropolis Theatre mates, Bedo, pick us up at the bus station and bring us in, which is really kind of him, except that now we cant locate him. He's ringing us, we're ringing him, where is in, where is out, we are up and he is down, he speaks Turkish and we dont!! It's a bloody bus station! How hard can it be?
Of course he locates us in the end and we arrive at our apartment to meet the owner, Murat. He has kindly carted my bag up five flights of stairs, bless his little cotton socks!
OMG the view!!!! I'd almost go as far as saying it's the best view we've ever had..... apart from Essaouira! The apartment is really comfortable and I'm looking forward to staying in tonight and cooking up a nice pasta for dinner.
18.02.20 Izmir I've never seen so many bloody stairs! However, Asansor (the lift) is about 200m along our road!! The elevator was built due to the elevation between the two streets in 1907 by a jewish man. I love you Nesim Levi! I actually have only used it the once because its back in the wrong direction.
Pergamon
Acropolis theatre We took the tram in to the Izmir train station for a dry run in preparation for our train to Selçuk on friday. Fabulous, easy system, and the only challenge is going to be getting my bag down the steps to the street from here. We might need to back track to the Asansor!
I counted the steps on the way up this afternoon. There are 90 at the halfway mark. I dont know how many more there are because I was so out of breath, I couldnt concentrate on counting! Probably the same again! And we are also on the fifth floor - thats another 71 steps right there!
We also walked to the Agora open air museum today which is the remains of an ancient Greek and Roman market and city centre, Smyrna, dating back 8500 years! It really was remarkable and is still being excavated and restored to this day.
Kadifekale is the name of the hill in the urban area of Izmir and sits at 610 feet. Yes we climbed up there too today!!!
So now I'm finally at home with a glass of wine, and guess who's sniffing about trying to
drink it? Knackers! You have beer! Back away from the bottle buddy!
Shane says: Well this place is a nice surprise. Magnificent views. Easily the best I've stayed in. And all for €43 a night. Winning.
Agora was a nice visit today. A place where Alexander the Great stayed for a while. Walking amonst the ruins of legends.
Poor Sharls had to visit another ruins today. She will be ruined out by this time next week. Pergamon tomorrow and Ephesus later on in the week. Nearly done babe. Until Bulgaria and Greece.
Sharls says: Kill me now!!
19.02.20 Izmir Someone is a bit excited this morning and he's up and at it as soon as the alarm goes off!
Bedo is driving us the 110kms back to Bergama and the ruins of the ancient city, Pergamon, founded in the 4th centrury BC, which has witnessed many historical firsts;
The first ever use of parchment, one of the first Seven churches of early Christianity (its mentioned in the bible), first theatre with a wooden stage, first trade union, first market law, first public building regulation, first strike and collective
agreement....the list goes on.
The principal ruins are in the Acropolis, the most impressive being the library , which was one of the largest in the world at the time, and the ten thousand seat theatre which gives a magnificent view of the valley below. It really is a magnificent site and we've walked every inch of it.
Next stop was the mysterious ancient healing centre of Asklepion, located at the base of the Acropolis and built in honour of Asklepios, the god of healing. Cleopatra walked these streets!! The sacred spring still flows today, so what are you going to do when you see it? There was even a theatre at Asklepion to entertain the patients, who would often stay for weeks. All of this was done in the belief that healing was a sacred art and that peoples souls need to be mended as well as there bodies. So very true.
We also stopped at the Red Hall and the Bergama museum.
We'll be stopping at lots of museums over the next week because Shane thought it would be a good idea to pay for an Aegean card each so that we can save
some money on entry fees. ?
Shane says: It was only 590 Lira for both of us. Approx $150 AUD. By the end of day one we are only $100 AUD down. Museum tomorrow. Ephesus Saturday. Got this in hand. Down 197 Lira each.
20.02.20 Izmir A free day today has us up and out by 11, and the first place we stop is the Izmir Museum. And that my friends, is because we now have an Aegean card!! You have to get your monies worth. In fact, it is quite a good museum, with many Greek and Roman statues, coins and artifacts from this area.
Oh look, there's the Ataturk Museum too! This one is free anyway, so apparently we dont have to stay long at this one because we didnt need the card for it anyway. It's turned in to a pretty wet and cold afternoon, so thats about it for Izmir. Heading to Selçuk tomorrow for 3 nights.
Shane says: We got back to our area after a 4 hour walk. Bought some fresh bread and had vegemite and butter. Mmmm ....magic! And of course a few frothies, plus
my daily intake of 500g of olives. Only got one museum in today. 28 Lira saved. Down 183 Lira each.
Sharls says: The olives in Morocco and in Turkey are completely different to those at home, and in fact are way more delicious. His olive count is up at around 1200! And I'm not even exagerrating ?
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