Bergama

After breakfast, Peri, Wolfgang and started driving towards Bergama, a city about 30km inlands from Dikili. Again, I drove through the beautiful Kozak region, this time on a different road though. :) Along the road, we stopped in a little coffee shop where locals also sell their home produced goods. I also tried Adaçay for the first time: it is some kind of sage tea, in which you pour fresh lemon. The tea then changes colour from yellow to rather white.
We continued our drive to Bergama and went up the Akropolis first, from there we had a really nice view on the city and even better - a huge lake with dam on the other side of the hill. We then drove back into the city, parked the car somewhere and strolled around exploring the area. I liked Bergama, the streets were pretty alive with lots of coffee shops where people were socializing, lots of stores for traditional goods (carpets, etc.), and Peri and Wolfgang would tell me a lot about the people's life in this less touristy place off the coast.

In the afternoon, we drove back towards the coast, basically on the road from Dikili to Ayvalık that I already cycled, more specifically to Cunda island which is just off the city but connected through bridges. I didn't go there by bicycle so Peri insisted on showing me this place. ;) On the way there, we also stopped a nice viewpoint onto Ayvalık and the city. Initially, we planned on having a Turkish coffee or tea up there at the restaurant terrace, but it was incredibly windy and actually even cold. The first time realizing that I might have to buy some more warmer clothes and/or a warmer jacket at some point, I only had my thin wind jacket.

Cunca island, like the mountain villages from the previous day, are places were rather wealthy people own their summer houses. However, Cunda city (that's were we went) is still quite nice with a little bazaar, little coffee shops and a nice seafront. I would have enjoyed the latter if it had been less windy. :D Peri was a little tired, so they stayed in the car while I was strolling around. I also enjoyed having some time for myself again. As much as I love meeting people and having company, after being a guest throughout my entire time in Turkey so far it's nice being by yourself sometimes. Usually, that's the time I spent cycling during the day but I wasn't cycling much while staying in Altınoluk. ;)

Once we were back in Altınoluk, we went for a Mantı restaurant close by the couple's place and enjoyed having tea and conversations back at their place in the evening.Read more