UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee is meeting in Doha these days, pondering which properties to add to its list of places that deserve special protection. As I hit ‘publish’, 22 new sites have been inscribed; the list now comprising a grand total of 1 001 sites. And I find myself becoming more and more of a world heritage geek. Perhaps I’ll just see them all.
One of the new inscriptions is the cultural Pergamon landscape in western Turkey.
My very first visit to Turkey was to Pergamon. I had taken the boat from the Greek island of Lesbos, passed through customs in Ayvalik, then caught a bus to Bergama. Easy then, probably just as easy today.
I remember my much younger self wandering around this ancient centre of learning and of healing (there’s a shrine to Asclepius, god of healing), being fascinated by the acropolis, the temples and, not least, the very steep theatre. We humans have always wanted circus, I suppose.
Surrounding the ancient city are hills with burial mounds. Such gorgeous landscape.
Have you visited Pergamon? Are you a World Heritage geek as well?
Pergamon and its Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape was just inscribed on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites.
Here are more UNESCO World Heritage sites we have visited around the world.
We lived in Turkey for 1 year in the 80s, but never made it that far east due to a severe case of hepatitis. It stopped all travelling in Antalya, and I still regret it.
Living in Turkey for a year sounds very exciting.
So happy to see this added to the list. there are so many other places that need this protection, too, in Turkey. Hopefully, more places will be added soon. Great photos – we WILL get some of our own photos one day when we finally make it there! 😉
Julia
Agree. Many wonderful places are in great need of protection – in Turkey and elsewhere.
The landscape is certainly gorgeous! That’s great that this has been added to the list. To see them all on the list is an excellent travel goal beyond the standard tourist destinations.
One of my favourite Roman sites in Turkey this is.