Asude Hotel Bergama

... that long distance buses are a little like traveling by plane - there are (usually) two attendant (men) who serve drinks and light snacks during the trip, because I met the crew at the beginning of the trip - they gave me extra cake, tea and water during the services and insisted that I take their photos, the two other girls in the picture were locals who worked in the Burger King across the straight ...

Got up and got a dolmus to the centre and had a walk around had to vısıt the pharmacy as not really well but after takıng some pılls felt a bıt more comfortable and had a wander round. Today ıs a holıday ın Ayvalık as ıts the day that they became ındependent from Greece and took theır town back not a very nıce story but they stıll celebrate ıt. Bought Danıelle a present ...

... are great.

We then went for some food ın thıs local place next door and for our fırst swım ın the sea at the nıght tıme we popped over to the bar agaın and met one of the locals hıs name ıs londıs and he has fıve chıldren all over the world and he asked Ian how many kıds he had and when he saıd none apart from my angel dan dan the man laughed and told hım wıth actıons that he had ...

... out the walk was a mere training exercise for what was to come the following day as we staggered seven kilometres up a mountain to see the Acropolis sounding even worse than the battered Renault 12s that asthmatically spluttered past us. Even the cab drivers at the top applauded us when we arrived and told us how impressive a climb that was.

Note to Tania, next year on my birthday can we just go to the beach please????

... off we certainly did - it was Baltic!

Another favourite stop became the covered market where during our stay we bought a 5 lira (£2) bottle of wine (not recommended!), admired the tomato wearing watermelons and enjoyed numerous cups of cay and bakery products - the guys there were so friendly they even gave us figs to accompany our beverages!

We really had to drag ourselves away from Ayvalik but our first ruins were calling...

... are ruins that have no standing buildings, or ruins with re-constructed buildings using savaged materials patched up by cements, and they strike me as not very authentic.

Bergama, which was called Pergamum in ancient time, is a good example. The site of its Acropolis, which was built in the 3rd century BC, is huge (occupies half of a hill, from the top down), its location beautiful, but the only standing things in it are ...

... much older. They will be proudly displayed and showed off on your next visit. I escaped the clutches of the Turkish carpet salesman with Florence buying only a very small kilim piece. Overlooking the village we ate dinner of grilled meat(kebap, sis, kofta, doner) and vegetables with the local families. After some slight convincing I tried Raki (the local spirit- "one raki is 5 beers")and afterwards the stories became much more animated. Fortunately we were all walking home.

... to top, rather then the normal opposite. Travel Advice: We stayed at the Athena Pension, an though the new 'mansion' was not opened yet, it seems like it would be a phenomenal place to stay with its cozy courtyard and original architecture blended in with the new construction. Regardless, we enjoyed staying at the 'pension' as the owner, Aydin, is very friendly and does a huge breakfast spread!

... you are as old as my dad!"

On this third visit to Bergama/Pergamon I woke in the morning to see from the streets of town that the acropolis was covered in snow, a rare event. Well, maybe not, but I thought so.

I hadn't planned to go to the acropolis on this preliminary two-day visit (before a return to Ankara to spend time with my friend during her school term break), but to see the ...

... saw the Red Basilica - a church which, in it's day would have been the size of a cathedral - it started life as an Egyptian cult temple in the 2nd century AD, and was converted into a magnificent Basilica with marble lined interior soon after. It is now in ruins, except for one tower which is used as a mosque, but gives a real sense of space & magnificence still. We then had a delicious pide lunch in a working men's café and tried to find the ...