The laid-back market town of Bergama is the modern successor to the once-powerful ancient city of Pergamum.

The ancient city of Pergamum boast as stunning location. Rolling across the hillside, five kilometres from the modern town of Bergama the assent up the narrow winding road (or a cable car if you wish) brings you to the Acropolis area which was once the beating heart of a powerful Hellenistic city. The most striking feature is the 15,000-seat theatre, set into the steep southwest slope of the hill and reached by a narrow flight of steps from the Temple of Athena. The theatre provides stunning view of the modern town of Bergama and the surrounding farmland. Adjoining the temple are the ruins of Pergamum’s famed library, built around 170 BC and once home to one of the largest libraries in the ancient world, with 200,000 volumes (later carried off to Alexandria by Mark Antony as a gift to Cleopatra). To the west of the library is the Temple of Trajan, built in the Roman era, with its marble colonnaded terrace. Below the theatre, the Altar of Zeus was once decorated with elaborate friezes (moved to Berlin in the 19th century).