Pergamum 13th April

TJ collected us from our hotel in Assos in the morning after breakfst and we drove to Peramum. On the way we called in to visit a wonerful Olive oil Museum at Aditepe. It was fascinating- showing all the various preses and containers used over the years. Georgie and i bought some lovely olive oil soaps with lavender & orange, some divine olive oil which you could just drink!!! and some other little things at the beautiful gift shop. 

Display of pots used to store olive oil

Variety of containers

Life cycle of the olive

Olive groves as far as the eye can see
for miles and miles and miles.

 It was a beautiful day and the drive up the hill to the remaims of Pergamum was stunning. It was built above the township of Bergama, originally settled by the Greeks in the 8th Century BC. We were met by our lovely guide, Levent who, like our previous guides was extremely knowledgeable about Pergamum. I just wish my brain could take it all in and remember it all. It was quite windy up on the top of the hill but an amazing view and location for a settlement.

Library ruins- reputedly containing
more than 200,000 parchment
scrolls- many went to Alexandria as
part of Mark Anthony's wedding gift
to Cleopatra in 41 BC.

Sample of column top

Looking through to the white marble
Temple of Trajan

Georgie/Hadrian!!

Passageways below the Temple-
off these were huge cool cavernous
rooms for food storage

Quite a beautiful place and sadly my camera died at this point- although Georgie continued to take photos- I haven't got them from her yet. Don't know when that will happen!! The Altar of Zeus which was one of Pergamum's largest temples was taken and rebuilt in Berlin's Pergamum Museum. The Germans seem to have many Turkish remains in their country. The Altar is only a large rectangular mass of stone which was the base, I imagine, with a very large tree growing in it now! One needs a very good imagination when visiting Troy and Pergamum to envisage what the complete structures must have looked like.

Then there was the carpet co-operative!!!!
It just so happened that Levent's wife (guide) was acarpet weaver. As is common in Turkey now- many carpet weavers, mainly women, belong to larger co-ops so they are assured of an income and their carpets are sold through thess. It is a good idea and the one we visited has about 1700 women who come there to weave or bring their carpets from their little villages to be sold.
We saw silk being extracted from the silk cocoon- my camera came alive for one last photo!!

The fine threads of silk are running over Georgie's fingers onto the spindle, from the cocoons that are in the hot water.The moth must not hatch out of the cocoon or else it severs the thread. They put them in boiling water to kill them and then take off the silk. 1500 m of silk on one cocoon,amazing!

Georgie and I were showing some women making carpets and both had a turn at weaving the "double" knot which is traditionally Turkish. If your carpet is not woven with the double knot then it is not Turkish- so beware and be warned!!!!
I had not intended to buy a carpet- but, we were offered apple tea and a glass of wine and then shown some magnificent carpets- some are absolutely stunning, both wool and silk.
Anyway, I got hooked, so bought Georgie a lovely one to take back to England to put by her bed. I plan to go back later and by one for Laura and Richard and I guess, me!!
After another cup of apple tea we set off to be driven to Kusadasi, down the Aegean coast.
On the way the muffler fell off the car, but luckily TJ could get a friend's replacement car and we arrived at our 5 star eatel overlooking the saeside town of Kusadasi at about 7pm.
We had had a great day.

Troy and Assos- 12th April 2011

Georgie and I spent 4 super days down the Aegean coast, thanks to the wonderful organisation and hospitality of TJ from TJ's Tours at Eceabat.

We were collected by coach at 7am on April 11th from Eminonu wharf and driven to Eceabat which is on the western side of the Dardenelles. It is the closest town to Gallipoli. Here we began our 4 days with a Gallipoli Tour with guide Kenan who was extraordinarily knowledgeable and interesting. Blog post has been done about that.

After visiting Gallipoli, we caught a ferry across the Dardenelles to Canakkale. We stayed the night in a very nice hotel and enjoyed a typically Turkish breakfast the next morning. Bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, hardboiled eggs and of course tea or coffee. We were collected by minibus the next morning and driven to Troy. Here we had a group of 15 with, again, an exceptionally knowledgeable and interesting guide. He added great humour to the story of Troy.

Cross section of the 9 levels of Troy

Walls of Troy (not sure what level)

 Troy ruins reveal history that runs from 4000 BC until 300 AD. The German "so-called" archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, many call him a thief, excavated much of Troy ruthlessly, in the 1870's, in search of Homer's Troy. He damaged the site immensely but did find a hoard of gold and silver which he took back to Germany- actually distracted the Turkish guards and sneaked it out of the country. His wife was adorned with the jewellry and can be seen in photos wearing it-

For any would-be stone masons,
 this is how the walls stayed up.
They had an extra corner
put in some blocks. See mid-left block.
Ingenious, apparently!!

The sacrificial area for both animal
and human.

Temple of Athena- amazing view
over the plains below which was
originally sea.

Example of the ruthless trenches
dug by Schliemann.

Pictorial cross-section of the 9
levels of Troy.

Theatre

Examples of marble columns.
Its just so hard to comprehend how
they could make these and
all the other stone and marble work
 without highly sophisticated tools.
Damn lot of hammering and
 chipping, I say!!!!

A reconstructed wooden horse, used by
 the Greeks to decieve and
ultimately vanquish the Trojans. 

After viewing Troy we were then driven to Assos by TJ and taken up to the Temple of Athena. An amazing view from the top. St Paul is reputed to have passed through Assos on his third biblical journey, and the town is referred to in the Acts of the Apostles.

Temple of Athena on the top of the
 mountain at Assos.

TJ the tour guide getting ready for some
base jumping from below the
Temple of Athena.

Aristotle founded a school of
philosophy here in 340 BC

Sitting by the Temple of Athena- Assos

After this we were treated to the BEST of regional cooking, having lunch at TJ's parents' home in Balabanli. This was EXCEPTIONAL. We had gozleme and home made yogurt which was "to die for"!!We were then driven around the district and in the evening, checked in to a beautiful hotel right on the water at the little seaside port.

Sheep in the fields around Assos

TJ (centre) and his parents in their
 back yard.

View from sitting room in TJ's parents'
house

View from hotel in Assos
. In the distance is the Greek island
of  Lesvos- apparently where the
word "lesbian" comes from as there
were communities of wommen
 living there in ancient times.

Looking back to our hotel (on right)
from the small rocky harbour



Georgie enjoying breakfast with one
of the "zillioins" of cats that roam
 Turkey!!

The seaside port of Assos is reportedly

the oldest harbour along this part of the coast.

 Little fishing boats go out each day and

 bring back their catch for the local hotels

and villagers.

Next instalment soon!!! I am very slow at updating!!! The formatting is a bit wonkey in my posts, I have a battle each time to try and get the photos where I want them, they don't want to co-operate sometimes!!!