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 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...
Bursa is situated along the northern foothills of Uludağ (Turkey’s premier ski resort). Set among orchards watered by plentiful mountain streams, Bursa is a city of brightly colored houses and winding streets dotted with fountains. It retains its Ottoman flavor and contains some...
We spent more than two weeks in the magical meeting place of East and West. This pleasant megacity has more top-drawer attractions than it has minarets. İstanbul’s strategic location has attracted many marauding armies over the centuries. The Greeks, Romans, and Venetians took turns...
After a few days on the beach near Alexandropouli, we had finally finished our work and some little reparations, and we hit the road towards Turkey. We used not so busy Ipsala border crossing, but it still took us 2 hours (the Greek side was very relaxed; the Turkish side complicated, as...
Philippi, overlooking the coastal plain and the bay at Kavala, was founded in 356 BC by the energetic Macedonian dynast Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. He fortified the Thasian settlement called Crenides to control neighboring gold mines. He derived a fortune from the gold mines...
Cloaked by beautiful Mediterranean forest, the steep slopes of Mount Athos are punctuated by twenty imposing monasteries and their subsidiary establishments. Covering an area of just over 33000 hectares, the property includes the entire narrow rocky strip of the easternmost “finger” of...
We drove from Volos (🛣️ 10 EUR / Class 3) through Larisa, where we bought some food at Lidl, to the extraordinary rock formations of the Meteora. The rock masses were formed some 60 million years ago, their distinctive and varied shapes sculpted over time by earthquakes, rain, and wind...
We drove from the south of Peloponnese (🛣️ – 4,80 EUR, ⛽ – diesel 1,939 EUR / l) to reach where the Olympic Games took place every four years from 776 BC, until their abolition by Emperor Theodosius I in 393 AD. The ruined ancient sanctuary of Olympia has been inhabited since...
Former Byzantine capital and fortified city Mystras is spread over a steep mountainside of Mt. Taygetos and surrounded by verdant olive and orange trees. It is the single most compelling set of medieval ruins in Greece (entrance 12 EUR). Treading the cobblestones, worn smooth by centuries...