Ancient Assos is located in Behramkale on the coast of northwestern Turkey, with the island of Lesbos lying about 11 kilometers offshore to the south. Founded by Aeolic colonists from Methymna in Lesbos in the 1st millennium BC, the city was constructed on the terraced slopes, partly natural and partly artificial, of an isolated cone of trachyte that rises steeply more than 200 meters above the sea. The city had the only good harbor on the north shore of the Gulf of Edremit and commanded coastal traffic. Assos (🎫 50 TRY) came under the rule of the Persians and later of the Athenian empire. It fell to Alexander the Great and subsequently was ruled by the Macedonian general Lysimachus, the kings of Pergamum, and Rome. In response to an invitation from Hermeias of Atarneus, tyrant of Assus, Aristotle founded a Platonic school there (348–345 BC). The site was quarried in the 19th century for stone for the docks of Istanbul; nevertheless, much of the old city remains, including the submerged mole of the ancient harbor, parts of the fortifications, and the ruins of a Doric Temple of Athena from 540 BC. The whole place is pretty touristic, so also the prices are a bit higher, dinner for two in the harbor was 550 TRY (Chicken steak with French fries, 3 different salads, 1,5 l bottle of water, Fanta and Juice). In the night we took an overpriced Efes beer (60 TRY / 0,5 l) in a family-run café.
Parking location – Behramkale: 39.496982N 26.333073E (🚻)