A hazy morning this morning prevented us from seeing the great views of the hills and the sea around Izmir.
Theatre at Pergamon
A short drive took us to Pergamon, an ancient settlement fortified by Greeks and Romans high on the hills of modern day Bergama. The drive up was scenic but a bit dodgy – the locals are going to ruin that experience by building a modern cable car that will ferry passengers to the top – instead of allowing buses to drive up. Makes some sense – but the tour company indicated that they aren’t pleased about it – and will probably amend the itinerary to include some other sites that are “just as good”.
The site has been very tastefully restored – one of the main attractions – Trajan’s temple has had a corner restored – so you can appreciate the size of the structure. The sub-structure for the temple was impressive too – we were able to walk underneath it and view the amazing arches that were built (and are still standing) to support the massive temple. The amphitheatre was the next stop. It is an unusual shape – most of the Roman theatres are semi-circular, this one is a lot short of that. It is also incredibly steep – so those with bad knees and a fear of heights were warned not to walk down it! There are the remains of several other temples at the site, notably the Temple of Dionysus at the bottom of the theatre. Most of the original ruins (the valuable parts anyway) are now in Berlin.
Asceplion was next on the tour, which was a notable health spa come hospital of sorts in its day.
A pretty good lunch followed by a long drive, led us to Troy – where we scrambled to climb the horse as fast as possible. If you look closely, you can see Neil and Karla in the top story of the horse.
Neil and Karla inside the Trojan Horse
A quick whip around the site that shows the ruins of 9 different civilisations dating from 3000 BC – all built on top of each other.
South Gate at Troy VI
We would have liked a little more time to comprehend and take in what we were seeing – but the tour must go on (that – and it was very windy and a bit unpleasant). A quick stop to view the Gallipolli peninsular ended our touring for the day.
An extremely early start will greet us tomorrow – as we aim to get to ANZAC cove, then back to Istanbul in reasonable time.
Wouldn’t it be great if your tour skipped the things you weren’t so interested in so you could spend more time at places like Troy – looks fascinating.
David Bain is seeking compensation for being imprisoned for 13 yrs.
NZ Cricket have called in 19yr old Kane Williamson from ND to assist our batting for 2nd test in Hamilton today.
Greg Murphy has qualified third fastest for today’s top ten shootout behind Jamie Whincup and Garth Tander at the Australian Grand Prix meet in Melbourne. Jason Richards and Shane van Gisbergen have qualified eighth and 10th respectively.
Cheers, Jan
(Lynne here on Mums computer) Hi – love the pic with you in the HORSE!!!! Awesome!
My favourite meal experience was in Cannakkale so i am hoping the same for you! Take some tissues with you to Gallipoli (or Gelibolu as they call it) it was a moving experience for me, and just some awesome stories told…..
Anyway am off to Waihi today for Petes Wedding, looking forward to some great weather and then home on Monday.
i have been checking this daily – just love all the info and brings back lots of memories of my trip there. Gave your blog address to Millen who we caught up with yesterday too!
Take care and safe travels back to Istanbul (my memory is of a hair-raising trip along the coast…..)
Lynne (and mum) xxx
Glad you enjoyed Troy, really interesting site. Agree with the comment about the tissues at Gallipoli, was surprised at how I felt. Yesterday we got the 1st snow on Mt Egmont, but nearly all gone now, and forecast good right up to Easter. Have a safe trip home.