The site of Pergamon

I will remember the pension in Akçay for a while, because it has been a while since I slept so badly. There was a pub in the alley below my window, which just had a live musician on the program tonight. Turkish folk songs that are only hurled into the alley with guitar and vocals through a mega-amplifier, loud and out of tune, until the small hours. And then, at 5:20 a.m., the couple in the neighboring room finds it necessary to start talking loudly and laughing out loud. However, it soon passes after I start commenting. The daily call for prayer at 6.20 am, from the loudspeakers of the mosque next to the pension, is therefore less welcome this morning. 

So I am ready to leave very early today and since the guest house does not have breakfast service, I walk to the beach promenade for coffee. I do have breakfast on the way.

After driving about 100 kilometers I arrive at the Pergamon Acropolis in Bergema. Also on the Unesco world heritage list, I'm starting to get a nose for it.

pergamon, the current Bergama, was a rich and powerful city from about the eighth century BC. The empire of Pergamon, at its apex, encompassed almost all of western Asia Minor, and was one of the finest cities of the ancient world, with a wealth of monumental temples, fountains, gymnasiums, and other structures. I find it very impressive to see what people can already build and make in those days, without machines.

Even along the way I come across the remains of a bygone era. I recognize small hills in the landscape and remember reading about 'Tumuli'. Small tombs also known as the pyramids of Turkey.

When I arrive in the village of Pamukkale I can already see the salt or lime terraces from afar. It looks like a snowy slope, but tomorrow I will take a closer look.