It was a prototype Turkish August day - a cloudless sky, shade temperature hovering above 40°C and a really strong Westerly wind .  Bergama, home to the famous Asklepieion (Galen’s spa hospital), Acropolis (housing the second largest scroll library in the world) and the Temple of Serapis lay at the foot of the steep hill crowned by Acropolis itself. Its majestic theatre, wedged into a steep edge, evoked in us a feeling of awe only matched by that at the ancient city of Aphrodite.  

I did, leaving my husband Paul and our guide Turgul sitting on top. In addition to the sound effect there is also the unexpected big blackberry bush (yes, with ripe blackberries) growing by the stairs of the temple of Dionysus. Having read about the altar of Zeus I told those  two still sitting on top of the theatre that I would go and see it. On asking where it was, our guide told me to just walk to the right.  It was about two in the afternoon, the scorching heat having reached its peak temperature and I trudged along what seemed like a little used dusty road towards the said altar. There was no soul in sight and I started wondering whether I walked too far. The theatre disappeared from sight, but on turning round a bend I saw a man, woman and small child stumbling across the thousands of amphora and marble shards on the road a few meters ahead of me. I asked whether they were also looking for the altar. They said they had been, but were now just on the lookout for a ruin, any ruin, that is . The four of us walked on, slowly approaching the bottom of the hill with the vast plains of the Izmir province stretching in front of us against the backdrop of the innumerable hills rolling on the horizon. The heat was unbearable. After what felt like an eternity we finally saw something resembling a ruin. I later learnt that this was not the altar of Zeus (which is in Berlin!!!) but the sanctuary of Demeter. I was so happy that I ran down the last bit of the road only to reach what seemed like an ancient brick settlement.  Then, suddenly,  a modern structure appeared. Despite being quite anxious about Paul’s and Turgul’s state of mind about my whereabouts, I entered...