I took a wonderful trip to Bergama this past weekend to see the ruins at Pergamum (also called Peramon). Abdullah walked me to the mini-bus (domash) stop to catch a ride to the main bus terminal, and then I took a two-hour bus ride from there to Bergama. I usually like to have hotel reservations before I leave, but of the two places I contacted via email, one responded saying they had no room and the other never responded. Abdullah told me “don’t worry” and that I would find a room when I got there.
I walked down the main street to the pension that did not respond to my email, and sure enough they had a room. I had my choice: one with a bathroom ensuite, or one with a shared bathroom, but a balcony overlooking the garden in back. I chose the cheaper of the two: 35 Turkish Lira for the one with the balcony. That is just under $20 US dollars and included breakfast and free Wi-Fi. I bought a few things at the grocery store and had my dinner on the balcony that evening.
Anyway, I had a great time walking through the town and then up onto the hill for the ruins. The first ruins I visited were of the city, with most of what was remaining being from the Roman period, but the Romans had built upon ruins that were built upon ruins. The archeologists have been able to put back together a number of the columns and some of the connecting pieces atop the columns. Very beautiful. The ruins of the acropolis (town) are from the top of the hill, back down one side of it. There is a huge theatre on the side of the hill that gives a fantastic view of the current city.
Back at the base of the hill, I visited the Red Basilica, so called because of its brickwork, which was covered at the time of its use with marble, but now is exposed and is red. This was first a place of pagan worship and then a church was built inside the first building! In addition to this main building, there were also two circular buildings that had been to the sides of this main building. Unfortunately, I could not go inside the ruins of the main building, as it was all cordoned off due to the danger of falling brinks from the walls. You could see all the different types of bricks from the different time periods of the buildings.
Between the two of these places, the acropolis on the hill, and the Red Basilica, there are more ruins on which some of the town is built. I don’t doubt there are a lot more ruins to be excavated on the hill and the surrounding areas as well.
On Sunday, I went to the Asklepion – a medical center – to view the ruins there. They are about two km from the ruins on the top of the hill and in a different direction than the red basilica. There were only two other people there until I was on my way out when a number of tour buses showed up and started unloading groups. It was a great way to view and experience the ruins. I asked the man of the couple if he would take a photo of me, and he did. I exchanged a few words with the couple: they were from Istanbul and on their way to Izmir. They knew German, but not English, although they did know a few words. Anyway, we were all standing by a tree and the man indicated for me to wait, and he went and climbed the tree! He picked three figs and brought them down and showed me how to eat them and gave them to me and told me “welcome”! I am finding the Turkish people to be so friendly and helpful.
I also talked to a couple from Australia in the grocery store, who are traveling independently around Turkey and are doing their own meal preparation. I thought about how much they are missing of the cultural experience, not eating Turkish food. I’m feeling pretty lucky that I had first the tour and an introduction through that of selecting foods at a restaurant, and now am eating in a home.
I had a couple of funny experiences over the weekend. First, I had noticed that there was a hamam along the main street and thought it would be nice to take another Turkish bath. So, the main entrance was open, so in I went, down a few marble steps into the building and right under the dome. There was no one behind what looked like the reception area, but a man jumped up from one of the side benches and came over and told me with few words and many arm movements, that it was men’s hours and not women’s hours! I made a hasty retreat, seeing as how he was only wrapped in a cloth around his hips! I’m sure people on the street who witnessed this had a good chuckle at the dumb tourist!
Also, when I was walking down from the acropolis on the hill, there were two young boys, about 8 years old. One was on what looked like a brand new bike and the other was sitting along a wall watching him. The boy on the bike road toward me a few times and at the last minute swerved away – typical little boy show-off behavior. The boy on the wall jumped off and came towards me with his hand out and asked for money. (This is not common here.) Of course I said no, but said hi and asked his name. He told me and asked me mine. Then the boy on the bike stopped and told me his name too. I said good bye and started walking away, and one of the boys called out hello again and came running up to me. So I turned around and he had unzipped his pants and was waggling his penis at me!!! I just said “NO, not nice” and walked away! Just can’t help but to laugh – guess he had to show the boy on the bike that he was pretty cool too, even though he didn’t have a bike!
The bus ride back was full, but not packed like they do in Ecuador and Peru with people standing in the aisles. But, like what happened to me in both of those places, the bus got a flat tire! Again, the men are obviously skilled at dealing with flat tires and had it changed in no time. We even stopped a little way down the road to drop off the flat tire at a repair shop.
As we were leaving Bergama, the attendant on the bus was asking everyone where they were to get off, and he was the same one that was on my bus on the way to Bergama, so he looked at me and said “Garage”, meaning the bus depot. But I had thought about this and knew that we would go past my area of the city to get to the main bus depot, so I showed the attendant the card I have with me that shows the area of the city where Abdullah lives and his street address. He said ok, and I worried the rest of the bus ride that I would be dropped off in the middle of this huge city and not have an idea of how to get from the drop off point to Abdullah’s house. When I got off, he told me “dolmash”, and I saw a bus stop just down the street. So I went there and a couple of the metro buses and then a couple of dolmashes went by and I knew I needed help as I didn’t know which to get on. There were about five or six people waiting for the bus, so I approached one of th woman and asked if she spoke English and asked for help, showing my card. Well, as usual, everyone knew German, but no English, but all of the people got involved discussing whether I should take a bus or dolmash and decided on the bus and we all got on the same bus. After I sat down, I could hear more chattering in the back of the bus, then a young man approached me, asked for my card in English, shared it again with one of the men who had been at the bus stop, and then told me that this man was going to the same apartment block number as I was and I just needed to follow him! It worked quite well and I just had about two short blocks to walk to Abdullah’s building after the man entered his apartment building.
If I had not been able to figure out the dolmash/buses, I had decided I would take a taxi, but I had no idea how far it was and all I had was a 50 lira bill. Glad I did not have to take that option!
https://picasaweb.google.com/117120466845854055422/BergamaPergamum
Wonderful trip. I love the views of the ruins.
ReplyDeleteWhen I visited a costume museum in Savoy, France this summer, the guide was careful to tell me which village she was from so I understood which Sunday dress was like her own grandmother's (heavy wool things, with embroidery which were rolled and hung in bags during the work.