A

Assos is perhaps most famous for having been the home of Aristotle for a short while after the death of Plato and the place where he met and married his wife, the daughter of the city's ruler. Today it is a small gem of a village situated at the bottom of a very steep cliff with a handful of hotels and restaurants overlooking a small fishing harbor. There could hardly be a more romantic location. We had heard of Assos as a place to relax and do nothing from a couple we met during our travels who had recommended the Behram hotel.

Lonely Planet gave directions and from Ayvacik we took a bus and then a small dolmus-like van from the main highway first to the modern village of Behramkale that is up on the clifftop and then down a switchback road to the foot of the cliff and our hotel.

Hotel Behram

We were pleased to get the hotel of our choice and took a twin room overlooking the harbor and spent the late afternoon and evening exploring the tiny harbor with its fishing boats and the pebble beach and restaurants and then undeveloped coastline beyond. We were entranced. We ended the day at the harbor-side restaurant for our fish dinner that was included with the room.

The next morning after breakfast at harborside we set off to visit the ancient city of Assos about which we knew very little. As we climbed back up the road we had driven down the day before we felt the usual awe at the beauty of the Turkish coast. After 20 minutes of climbing we found an entrance to the site and started slowly to work our way up through the remnants of the ancient city — the gymnasium, the theater, the temple, — until finally we found ourselves at the very top where the acropolis once stood. 

Assos

Having had our fill of the views from the top we decided to walk back down to Assos across the countryside rather than down the asphalt road. Of course we got lost a couple of times, but ended up in somebody's orchard and disturbed the owner eating his lunch, which he very politely offered to share with us. We said no, but gratefully accepted his directions back to our hotel which we reached hot, tired, but satisfied. To complete the day, we dared to dip our toes in the chilly waters of the Aegean, a daring act made even more so by having to negotiate the rocky beach and sea bottom.

The next morning, our sojourn over, we packed, checked out, and then waited and waited and waited for a dolmus. When it did finally come, we found that unbeknownst to us, this was the dolmus's day off and so we had to pay double for having dragged him away from his leisure. And so at last it was farewell to Assos and on to Troy. 

For more information about Assos, check out < a href="http://www.kusadasi.com/assos.html">http://www.kusadasi.com/assos.html