Wonderful Bergama, Pergamon Turkiye

22.9.23

I was convinced I’d never sleep at Hasanboguldu but the next I knew it was morning. Eight and a half hours had passed and we were still alive.

We went off to see the waterfall and lake. 20 tl each to go in.

The wolves we heard last night turned out to be dogs, one tried to bite poor Honey on the bum, luckily she was not hurt.

Let’s just say we’d have been devastated if we’d paid 190tl to park to see a small waterfall and a pond. But it was pretty and well worth a visit if in the area.

Next we stopped in Akcay, a pretty nearby beach town, hoping to find a Turkish breakfast. It felt very end of season and definitely a place with local and tourist prices as many places had no price lists outside.

We ended up at a bakery and ate the driest most boring tahini coreks sitting on a bench with a very affectionate cat who liked the coreks more than we did.

Time to press on to Bergama an hour and a half away.

There’s a few places you fall in love with instantly. Bergama was one of them. As we approached there was a river with old stone bridges, we turned a corner and saw huge red walls and colourful carpets.

Wow, wow, park!! There was a huge car park right nearby.

Theres so much to see spread across the town.

After the Red Basilica Hall we walked through the historic old houses.

Then up towards the Acropolis. We saw a teleferik – cable car- but at 300tl a person for a very short ride we decided to walk back down to the van and work out whether its worth investigating the top. Is it just the crumbly bricks we could see in the distance?

John had enough of all the pontificating. Part of my reticence was that I saw part of the road we’ll need to go up.

‘Come on!’ So off we went. It was very steep. 😳😳😳Thank goodness nothing came the other way.

We parked behind lots of other cars under the trees. The car park fee was 120tl. Savings so far 720tl.

It’s free to go in using our museum cards. Otherwise its 340tl each. Savings now 1400 tl.

Far from being crumbly bricks, it’s amazing.

https://muze.gov.tr/muze-detay?sectionId=AKR01&distId=AKR

https://muze.gov.tr/muze-detay?SectionId=ASK01&DistId=ASK

We saved another 300tl each for admission. Total savings now 2000tl.

We’ve seen hundreds of dogs, cats, puppies and kittens on this journey. I was totally distracted here by a little Doberman type girl. She’d obviously had pups although tiny herself. She was bleeding, presumably in season, and had a large round wound on her bottom. It wasn’t infected, she was so thin we wondered if it could even be a bone sticking out. She was friendly but sad.

She trotted off towards John but we didn’t see her again. The staff there must be aware of her as she’s the only dog in there. Made me really sad, but even if we found her again we’d be worried sick she could make our girls ill and then what do we do with her? 😭

We continued looking but no sign of her.

It was time to find somewhere nice to stop overnight.

We ended up in Aliağa at the very quiet end of the promenade. Perfect. Simple döner kebabs for dinner and more episodes of ‘Generation 56k’. Feel totally exhausted 😴😴

Definitely out of walking practice, it’s been too hot since May!