Ayvalik, Pergamon and Alibey

 Waterfront warehouses, now restaurants, Ayvalik Harbour

 

A great lunch for a couple of dollars

Settled comfortably in Ayvalik Marina, we gave Common Sense and ourselves a good wash down, and stocked up on essential stuff. Our first day in town was market day, and it was humming. There didn't seem to be a central market area, just stalls, kiosks and mats on the ground wherever a space could be found to display produce or handcrafts. In season right now - apricots, peaches and cherries, ripened on the tree and with about 500% of the flavour of supermarket fruit at home. In the warren of cobbled streets we found a great little Locantasi (I think that's the word for a home-style restaurant where you have whatever they are cooking that day) and a nice café/antique store in one of the old stone houses. Ayvalik is an interesting town. Behind the busy harbour and touristy waterfront, narrow cobbled streets and stone buildings suggest that this was a Greek town before the population exchange of 1923. Many of the buildings are derelict, including a number of big olive oil factories, but others have been cleverly renovated as cafes, shops and boutique hotels. We used the wonderful Turkish transport system to visit a couple of attractions:


Pergamon

Trajan Temple at the top of Pergamon

The ruins of Pergamon crown a hill 275 metres high, with vertigo-inducing views of the town and farmlands below. Famous as the home of Galen, one of the celebrated medicos of ancient Greece, Pergamon was a noted Asklepion (a kind of hospital/ health spa/ temple - the Trojan hero Aeneas was supposedly transported here by Aphrodite to be healed of his wounds) as well as a centre for the arts. After a dolmus ride to the town centre, we took a taxi up to the top of the hill and walked down through its various buildings. It is quite a contrast to the gleaming white marble of Ephesus, being built in huge solid blocks of dark stone. The slender white columns of the temple of Emperor Trajan stand in vivid contrast at the top of the site. Most spectacular is the theatre, where 10,000 people could be seated in the steepest theatre in existence - you can't help wondering how many patrons suffered cardiac arrests on their journey to the cheap seats up the back. Some beautiful artworks are preserved in the Pergamon Museum, but unfortunately it is in Berlin.

View from the cheap seats

Alibey

          Patisserie in Alibey
Named after a notable local war hero, this little island is joined to the town by a causeway and a regular ferry service. It is essentially a crumbling old Greek village, mostly built of attractive pink Andesite, a volcanic stone. There is a large disused church and the remains of an older basilica, and a lovely old restored windmill at the highest point on the island. The harbour is pretty and well protected, with some nice cafes and patisseries serving the local tourist trade. Terry found a couple of geocaches, which I believe took him over the 200 mark.



Andesite stone

Departing from Ayvalik early in the morning, we actually managed a good brisk SAIL to Behrem Kale (Ancient Assos) but once again we couldn't be confident the anchor was holding and we headed on a few miles to Sivrice. Next was a short hop to Babakkale, where we found good shelter from the howling northerly that blew in and kept us pinned to the dock for four days.