Pide at Pergamom

In the morning before the crowds and the tour buses started we drove up to the ancient site of Pergamom, above Bergama.  

Enroute we past the Red Basilica which once formed the core of a massive sacred complex spreading out over many hectares, even stretching across a river that had to be channelled and bridged during construction, and which still bears traffic today, some two thousand years later.

Red Basilica

The Red Basilica has been standing since Hadrian’s time.  It is believed he likely commissioned it, as the red brick is the key. It points out the presence of a foreign, and very likely a Roman, architect.  Someone with money and power must have wanted a temple precinct here to worship the Greek gods.   It remains one of the largest Roman structures still surviving in this part of the world.    

Pergamom, too, is an ancient site of the dynasty of the Attalids, who supported Rome in its fight against Macedonia, and as the wars were won, the money kept rolling in, and building works continued.     

At its height 200,000 people lived in Pergamom.  And there must have been that many slaves, just to do the construction work.   

What strikes first is how high it is: way above Bergama.  Yet the buildings on top of the hill are massive, even intricate.  How the stone was even hauled to the top is beyond belief.  Yet alone the work of art that is accomplished on many of the stone pieces. Further down the slopes you can find traces of the massive viaducts that were used to carry water to and from the site: amazing bits of engineering themselves.  

So high is Pergamom

As you rise you see the Hellenestic theatre built into the side of the hill at such a slope that access to the viewings must have been a challenge for many.   It is way steeper than most we have seen.  Scary, in truth.

Almost sheer theatre slope

The site itself has remnants of all the pieces you would expect in a Roman city: wealthy royal residences, a library second only to the library in Alexandria,  but exceptional in its own right, as when the Egyptians stopped allowing papyrus to be exported, the Pergamenes developed a new ‘paper', parchment thin, using fine calf skin, much like a vellum.  

Fine drawing of the Sanctuary and Halls

There are upper and lower Agoras, and the ever-important Roman baths, but the really exquisite work is at the top: the elaborately decorated columns that belong to the Sanctuary of Trajan, and the halls surrounding that temple, all atop the highest part of the hill, making it look even more splendid.  

So old, yet still they can be made to stand

The purity of the white stone of these colonnades as they stood proud and tall must have been remarkable.  Their remnants lying on the ground below are as bleached as white bones.  Gorgeous even there.    

ooo000ooo

Lunch was another fine stop, pulling over when we felt hungry, finding a place that offered food.   

Home for lunch in his pretty little red cart

Lunch today was pide and lahmacun, like Turkish-style pizzas, made from scratch while we looked on and photographed. The bread for my lahmacun was as thin as crepe, covered with finely chopped vegetables and spices. I was served a plate of salad separately: sliced lettuce, red cabbage and tomato, along with a small dish of the most delicious fresh red chilli mix, like a paste: rich with parsley.    

Our pide and lahmacun in to be baked

I was shown how best to eat it.  Spread salad over half the pizza first, roll it, take a fork full of chilli to spark the tongue, then bite into the lahmacun.   Sublime.

The others had pide: strips of pastry shaped like a long boat and curled in over the sides topped with meat and cheese, then served in slices.  Also quite delicious.

We feel very pampered in Turkey.  Locals look after us so well and chat away as if we fully understand every word they say.  We nod, and smile, and shake hands, and are always sad to leave.

oooOOOooo