Assos

Assos was founded between 1000 and 900 BCE by Aeolian settlers from Lesbos, and the Temple of Athena went up on the summit of its crag around 530 BCE - a Doric temple, unusually for the region, whose reassembled columns now stand against a view straight down the cliff to the sea with Lesbos filling the horizon a few kilometres off. Aristotle spent three years here in the 340s BCE, running a school under the local ruler Hermias before leaving for Macedon, and Saint Paul passed through on foot. Below the acropolis the ancient walls, gate, theatre and necropolis run down the slope, and at the bottom is the old harbour: a single row of stone buildings, now hotels and fish restaurants, on a tiny quay with no beach and deep water off the rocks. The village of Behramkale above has a fourteenth-century mosque and an Ottoman humpback bridge. The road down to the harbour is very steep.

What to look for

• The Temple of Athena - Doric columns on the cliff summit.
• The sea view - the drop to the Aegean with Lesbos beyond.
• The city walls and theatre - the ancient remains down the slope.
• The stone harbour - the single row of buildings on the quay.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Late afternoon for the light on the temple and the view west; midsummer here is very hot and the site has no shade.

Good to know

The acropolis is a steep climb on uneven stone. The harbour road is extremely steep and narrow, and parking is scarce. Harbour hotels and restaurants are priced well above the region.

Nearby

Adatepe and the Mount Ida slopes are inland; Ayvalık is south along the coast.

Key facts