23 May, Ayvalik to Bergama, 61km @ 12.1kph
Hotel Asude 80TL (breakfast included) (negotiated down from 100TL)

We could not have asked for an easier ride terrain-wise. The first half of our day was a joy; the second half was spent doing battle with a head wind. Head winds turn even flat roads into hills; and a 30km climb, no matter how gentle, puts a real strain on the knees! We had departed our Ayvalik hotel at 06:00 and were established in our Bergama hotel by 13:00, our time on the road including several breaks for sustenance. I collapsed onto my bed and lay like a beached whale prompting Charl to say that if he were asked to carry twice his “ideal” weight on a bike, he would refuse to do so! At one point today we passed a cemetery, white gravestones beneath pines encased by a low white wall. There must have been 10,000 birds in that small forest, so pregnant with song, so joyous and raucous, we could hear them over the sounds of traffic long before we reached them. There has been a town at Bergama since Trojan times; nearby are the Greek and Roman ruins at Pergamum which we will visit tomorrow.

Between Ayvalik and Bergama

Between Ayvalik and Bergama - flat road but windy