Izmir (Smyrna) and Bergama (Pergamom)

Under the Agora--Smyrna

Izmir is the third largest city. Ankara, the capital, is second. Izmir is ancient Smyrna, a prominent harbor and shipping port. There we saw the unimpressive exterior of the church of St. Polycarp, who was martyred here in the second century at the age of 86, and the agora, which was preserved because it had become a Muslim cemetery. What impressed me besides sheer size was the variety of stone colors that were used—from what appeared to be black basalt and brown sandstone to white limestone to marble.

Pergamum

Izmir's harbor

We left Izmir and drove north along the coast to Pergamum. There the ruins were far more impressive—a high hill we reached in a cable car, an ancient city with an agora that had been three stories high, where there had been a temple of Zeus. According to the ancient historian Pliny, parchment was first developed in Pergamum (thus the name). Pergamum had the second largest library in the world, after Alexandria’s, and it was dedicated by Mark Anthony to Cleopatra. What a small place the world was then. Legends that have been larger than life—Homer, the Trojan War, the Greeks, the first Christian martyrs, the great church councils, even King Midas, all sprang from this small area. 

Despite the rain and gloom all day, Turkey seems a pretty country. Mountains rise up behind the towns, which are dotted with mosques in every neighborhood. They are of all colors, but follow very similar architectural design. Lots of apartments and most everyone seems to have a balcony. The countryside looks a lot like northern Israel—rocky, hilly, full of pine trees. Olive trees are everywhere, and we saw peach orchards, vegetable fields that looked like green and red cabbage. Ugoz said tea grows in the northeast, and in fact Turkey is largely self-sufficient for food. We’ve seen a few sheep, a few horses, a few chickens as well.