Bergama

The city of Bergama is a fair way from Izmir, so I started out fairly early. There's not really an organised bus station as such, make you you get off near the travel shop, as that's where the bus back to izmir departs from. But anyway, Bergama is the home of Pergamon

Pergamon  is hard work. It's in the middle of no where, and despite having a cable car to get to the top of the mountain, the man at the desk will tell you solo travelers arnt allowed to use it.

I was not in a good mood when I got to the top let me assure you. It was stinking hot, and the hike was dirty and dusty.

Anyway Pergamon  itself is okay. There's no masses to see and do, and there's a very badly restored (or should I say rebuilt?) temple at the top. It's nothing special, and it didn't really hold my attention that well either.

Although by that point, I had bashed the side of my foot in and was having trouble walking, so I'd had enough by that point.

And strangely enough, when I asked the man who was working in the control booth of the cable car, he said it was absolutly fine to ride in solo.

Luckily for the rude guy from the start, he had disappeared so I couldn't clobber him one. Anyway, here's a few pics from Pergamon, the ancient city on the hill:

The city of Bergama has the archeology museum, full of artefacts from Pergamon, and there's also a partially ruined cathedral you can visit. Sadly, a lot of restoration was done on the cathedral, only for it to be seriously damaged in an earthquake just months later, and needing more work done to it again.

I actually found it more interesting than Pergamon!

Unless you're desperate to see Bergama, or literally have a spare day and nothing else to do, I don't recommend it. There's better and easier options elsewhere!