To our surprise, one day at the resort town of Alaçatı, some 10km southeast of Çeşme, became our most expensive day in Turkey. The Greeks originally founded Alaçatı in the 17th century. After the defeat of the Ottomans in the Balkan Wars, Ottoman Muslim refugees fled to the western coast...
We did overnight next to the ruined capital of ancient Lydia, about kilometers west of present İzmir. Sardis (🎫 25 TRY) is strategically located on a spur at the foot of Mount Tmolus, it commanded the central plain of the Hermus Valley and was the western terminus of the Persian royal...
The city lies in the valley of the Gediz River, below Mount Sipylus in western Turkey (🛣️ HGS – 88,50 TRY / class 2). It was called Magnesia ad Sipylum in ancient times, and the Magnetes of Thessaly are thought to have been its first inhabitants, in the 12th century BCE. It was taken by...
It was supposed to rain, but in the end, it was a nice sunny day in Bergama town in western Turkey. It shares one of Turkey’s most impressive archaeological sites dramatically sited on a hill with terraced slopes (cable car 🎫 130 TRY / return). There’s plenty to see in the...
We made a pleasant short stop at a seaside town on the northwestern Aegean coast of Turkey. Ayvalik was an ancient Greek Aeolian port town. At first glance, Ayvalık may seem unremarkable, a port town similar to many others in this region. But a few streets back from the waterfront...
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...
We made a short stop in the ruins of Troy (🎫 100 TRY). The site resembles an overgrown archaeological dig and it’s very difficult to imagine what the ancient city would have looked like. So, if you come to Troy expecting a rebuilt ancient city along the lines of Ephesus...
After four hours (⛽ diesel 25,16 TRY / l, 🛣️ HGS – 253 TRY / class 2) we arrived at Çanakkale located in northwestern Turkey at the mouth of the Koca on the Asian side of the Dardanelles. Originally a 15th-century Ottoman fortress had by the 18th century developed a reputation for...
Mt. Uludağ is the highest mountain in the Marmara region. Its highest peak is Kartaltepe at an elevation of 2543 meters. It was known as the Mysian Olympus and in the Middle Ages, it contained hermitages and monasteries linked to the resistance of numerous monks to the policy of the...
