Hello!
We had a very quiet and early night last night, having dinner again at the Tusan Hotel. (And indeed they thought it quite funny that we come from “Tucson.”) This time there were three different tour groups – one from the Philippines, one from Germany, having a Raki (the local equivalent of tequila) party on the porch, and a final group from somewhere in Scandawegia; not sure exactly where. At any rate, it made for a raucous dining room, that’s for sure! Robert was brave and went with another fish – this time something we think is called “Whiting”. I decided that vegetable soup and salad would be all I need, along with a dish of pistachio and chocolate ice creams. At any rate, we were back to our room by about 8:30 p.m. and to bed before 9:30 – all this fresh air must make a person very tired!
We were up around 6:30 a.m. and really had no rush, as we were checking out today, and wanted to let the tour groups get first crack at the breakfast line. At any rate, when we headed into the dining room, about 7:30, only one of the tour groups – the Germans – were still there. Not a great breakfast, but good enough. While we really like the hotel – good rooms, quiet, fabulous pool and lovely views of the Aegean – the food is really probably the poorest we’ve had in all of Turkey. This place is obviously geared toward groups, and the portion sizes are enormous! I guess quantity over quality is what matters with a group.
Paid the bill and out of the hotel about 8:30 a.m. Robert set Emmy to Bergama, the modern day town that surrounds the ruins, and it said we would get there about 11:30. Along the way, we had to stop for gas, and found that not only can you get gas, but if you do, they will power wash your car for free! Such a deal! So, as our car was absolutely filthy, we had it washed when we filled up – as R says, we should probably get better gas mileage, now that all the dirt is gone from the car!
Arrived in Bergama just on 11:30, and wonder of wonders, there were actually SIGNS pointing the way to our small boutique hotel, Hera Hotel! Of course it is located in the old section of town, and climbing up to it was quite a challenge. Arrived safely, and was told to just leave the car parked next to the building…so, we did! Unloaded, and asked to wait a few minutes for our room to be cleaned; fair enough, as we were fairly early.
Iskender and his wife have completely renovated two old buildings and turned them in to Hera Hotel. It is truly quite lovely! We are in Hera room, on the second floor with three big windows looking out over the city. We can see some ruins from here, as well as the Red Hall, all of which I believe are lit up at night! The room itself is fairly small; R calls it “cozy.” Comfortable king size bed, nice chair, and first rate internet access and phone coverage. Also the very BEST TV since we left home – countless channels in both Turkish and other languages! Can’t wait to watch Cubavision! We settled in, and then were treated to tea on the patio – again, beautiful place! – while Iskender went over a map of town and showed up places to eat, things to see and do…so…now we’ll go and do some of them!
First off: Lunch! We walked down into town (why is it always done going in to town, and then back UP coming back???) Town isn’t much, to be honest, but we went to Bergama Sofrasi. Rather than a menu, you are pointed back to where the cook is making and assembling meals – fortunately, they have an English speaking waiter who described the various offerings available. I took eggplant stuffed with beef and covered by a béchamel sauce with green beans and rice. R had ground beef meatballs (beef kofte) with rice and tomatoes. He thought his was best; and, while I admit it was good, it was no better than my eggplant!
From the restaurant, we decided to visit the Red Hall which was just a block or so away. This building – and it is huge -- is built of Roman brick (very thin – maybe 3” high) from the 2nd C. A.D. It has in turn been a temple dedicated to Serapis and Isis, who is the god of the underworld in the Egyptian pantheon; a church dedicated to St. John the Evangelist was built inside shortly after the arrival of Christianity in Pergamum, to be followed by a mosque built in the 14th century. This is one of the seven churches of the Revelation, the place where Satan has his altar, which may refer to the great altar of Zeus. At any rate, an interesting building, in the process of some restoration, as the walls are said to be dangerous.
From there we returned to the hotel to get the car and head out to the Asklepeion on the hill. This is the site of the second known “hospital” and possibly the most famous hospital of the ancient world. The first hospital was in Greece, and thanks to its help, a prosperous citizen of Pergamum was cured of whatever was ailing him. He came back and in gratitude, started Pergamum’s own hospital, which produced one of the most famous physicians of the ancient world, Galen. They developed and used various herbs and plants as medicine, as well as used such techniques as bathing in thermal pools or sunbathing for cures. Apparently there was also quite a bit of dream analysis (the first Freud?) to help with cures. My favorite, though, is that anyone dying or pregnant was denied admission….hmmm… certainly don’t want to have a hospital deal with death, that’s for sure!
At any rate, the site is lovely – on a hill looking UP to where Pergamum is sited. They have their own 3,500 seat theatre (performances for the ailing as well as the fit), sleeping chambers and treatment rooms, as well as shrines to various of the prevailing gods. Had a nice walk around, then stopped for glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice before getting back into the car and heading downtown to the museum.
Views of the Pergamum acropolis on top of the hill; heading there tomorrow!
Small, compact museum, but containing many finds not only from the Asklepeion and Pergamum, but the general area as well. We first actually heard about Pergamum rather accidentally when I was channel surfing one Saturday morning several years ago, and Travel Channel’s Samantha Brown was in Berlin. You see, in the late 1800’s, a German architect actually “bought” the famous Altar of Zeus and had it broken down into blocks and shipped to Germany, where it now resides as the prize exhibit in the German Pergamum Museum. (A fabulous museum, but WAY far away from here!) So tomorrow we will see what he left behind! (Thankfully not everything went back to Germany!)
Back to the hotel for a rest before dinner!
More later!
m
xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment