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Most people visit Bergama solely for the ancient ruins of the Asclepeion or Acropolis of Pergamon, but wandering around the rest of the city is worth it as well.
My Experience in Bergama
I didn’t exactly scour the entire city center to see everything I would normally set out to see, so this entry is incomplete. Most of my exploring was done in a residential area.
Brief History of Bergama
Bergama was founded as Pergamon, which was the capital of the Attalid dynasty from 281 BC to 133 BC. It was then bequeathed to the Roman Empire by King Attalus III and later was named one of the Seven Churches of Revelation. The city remained in Roman and Byzantine hands except for a Sassanid invasion in 620s, an Umayyad invasion in 715, and rule by the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum between 1074 and 1097. It was conquered by Karasids in 1302 and became part of Ottoman Empire in 1337. Greece occupied the city during the Greco-Turkish War from June 19, 1919, to September 14, 1922.
Republic Square
I started walking around the city center from Republic Square (Cumhuriyet Meydanı). It sits in the heart of the modern city of Bergama.
The streets off the square contain mostly ugly modern concrete buildings with a few nice stone buildings mixed in.
Old Greek Quarter
As I got closer to the Acropolis, the scenery began to change dramatically. The old Greek quarter, now the Kurtuluş neighborhood, is filled with beautiful stone homes. Several of these homes were occupied by Greek families until the terrible population exchange between Turkey and Greece in 1923. Many have been restored while others are in need of repairs.
I wandered through the old Greek quarter a few times, first while walking to and from the Acropolis, and another couple times looking for something to eat.
While walking around, I snapped some random photos of homes that caught my eye. Some of the homes still had original decorative features such as the Greek key above windows and doors.
