When we got to Troy, we saw another fake Trojan Horse, and then it was on to the excavation sites. I had learned a little about the excavation of Troy in my Classics class, so I was excited to be able to see it right in front of me instead of on a Powerpoint. Although it was tough to visualize as a real place because it is just an excavation site, unlike many ancient ruins where you can see things like a library, baths, and temples, it was still very cool to think that we were standing in Troy.
After that, it was on to a more intact ruin – Pergamum.
This city was both Greek and Roman, and it was amazing. Like many ancient cities, it was built on the top of a hill, and the views were incredible. 
It was a training ground for soldiers, and also housed the Asklepion, which was one of the first health clinics in the world. The most mind-blowing fact that I learned was that not only did they treat patients with mental disorders (in the West, this pretty much didn’t happen until the late 19th century – until then they were just put away), they treated them in very advanced ways. First of all, they began using lithium in the 3rd century BC, which is still used today to treat some disorders. They also placed the mental patients’ rooms near the very steep theatre, which allowed them to use musical and theatrical therapy to help in their treatment. Amazing.
the theatre - as you can see the stairs were very steep
remains of a temple
After a somewhat long bus ride, we made it to Selcuk, which is a small town right near Izmir on the coast. There, we stayed at the Australian New Zealand Guesthouse, which was a very beautiful and funky little pension. After meeting us on his moped as we were dropped off by the Fez Bus, the owner zoomed up the hill to the guest house, where he had a wonderful dinner waiting for us on the terrace along with a great view of the sunset.
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