Called Assos in ancient times (and sometimes today) Cheap Clelin Ferrell Jersey , Beh ram kale is a divided city: half its inhabitants live around the imposing ruins, set on a hill, the others in the small port below. Assos (daily 8.30amsunset; charge) may have been a Hit tite settlement in the 13th century BC, but its true rise began in the 8th century BC when settlers from the Greek island of Lesbos took root here. They constructed a terraced city, much of which remains, on an impregnable site above Aegean shipping routes. In the 4th century BC, Hermias Oakland Raiders Jerseys For Sale , a former student at Plato's Academy in Athens, rose to power, instituted a regime based on the Platonic notion of the philosopherking and founded a school of philosophy,

attracting Aristotle, who eventually married the king's niece. After Hermias's execution by the Persians, the city passed from one ruling power to the next; the medieval Ottomans dismantled much of the ancient town for building stone. The view from the ancient acropolis is wonderful down the coast, and over to Lesbos. An American archaeological team is currently restoring the 6thcentury BC Temple of Athena. Around lie the remains of the ancient agora Raiders Jerseys For Sale , gymnasium and theatre. The necropolis is well preserved, strewn with pieces of the limestone sarcophagi for which ancient Assos was famous, and about 3km (2 miles) of the old city walls are intact. A curiously modern note is struck by the simply proportioned 14thcentury Murad Hudav endigar Camii.

The little fishing harbour, at the bottom of a steeply twist ing road, has a compact collection of restaurants and hotels popular with the Istanbul art set. Since the Greeks are encamped only 8km (5 miles) away, at Lesbos, the town also has its own border police.

Follow the coast road around the Gulf of Edrernit to the charm ing city of Ayvahk Cheap Oakland Raiders Jerseys , 131km (81 miles) south of Behramkale. Founded by Ottoman Greeks in the 16th century, it was a prosperous, ethnically Greek city left all but empty after its in habitants were ejected from Turkey in 1923. It's since been re settled, but its square stone houses and narrow, winding streets overhung with balconies and lined with lovely carved wood en doorways still feel Greek. Stop at the busy central bazaar where cobblers and metalsmiths ply their trades. Tall minarets mark the city's mosques; note especially Saatli Camii (for merly Agios Ioannis), named after its clocktower. The mosques are mainly former Greek Orthodox churches.

The best beaches are several kilometres south of the city at Sarimsakh, heavily developed with lines of holiday hotels Cheap Raiders Jerseys , bars, discos and restaurants. Boat excursions leave from Ay vahk (near the information booth on the waterfront) every morning. The trip lasts for most of the day and includes the nearby islands such as Alibey Adasi, popular with ancient travellers including Plinys Elder and Younger and Ptolemy, and makes frequent stops for a swim.

Pergamon, 54km (33 miles) south of Ayvalik on Route E87, was once the royal city of the Attalids, and the most magnif icent Hellenistic city in Asia Minor. Give yourself plenty of time here Cheap Donald Penn Jersey , for this was one of the greatest and most beautiful of all Greek cities, and its ruins speak eloquently of its past. The city became famous in the 3rd century BC when Lysi machus, a general in Alexander's army, deposited his consid erable treasure behind its walls for safekeeping. Sadly, he died in battle not long after. His officer, Philetarus, inherited the lot and set about founding a dynasty Cheap Justin Ellis Jersey , adopting (he is said to have been a eunuch) a nephew, Eumenes, to succeed him.