Friday, May 10, 2013

Turkey - Day Five - Pergamon

Today was slightly less eventful than yesterday, yet possibly even more exciting.  We got on the bus at 8:00am and set out for the ancient ruins of Pergamon.  The drive itself ended up lasting a few hours with most of the band either catching up on sleep or doing things to keep themselves busy.  We made a stop for lunch at a restaurant near the ruins, which served some very good ca-bobs.  The highlight of the restaurant was when one of the waiters at the restaurant, who used to sing professionally, sang a Turkish song for us.  This was something which was very enjoyable for everyone and was quite a thing to see and hear.

After lunch, the group made its way to Pergamon, an ancient Roman site which has many of its parts still intact.  The city was abandoned after an earthquake destroyed a large part of it, but there were many settlements which remained and the place lasted throughout the ages.  This was easily my favorite part of the tour so far, being a history major and all.  The very idea of being able to walk through these structures which have been around for centuries was a cool thing to experience.  Many members of the band took pictures on top of the ruins and spent their time exploring this great place.  There was so many things to see in this site that I would have liked to stay for four hours just to see everything.

Following Pergamon, the band bused for an hour and a half to the city of Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey, where they proceeded to either spend the night exploring the city or relax and spend the night enjoying the view of the hotel.  

No comments:

Post a Comment