Likely established between the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, Pergamon was a regional powerhouse for nearly 150 years and is one of Turkey’s most important sites. Travellers can visit the remains of the city, once capital of the Attalid Kingdom and later the Roman Empire’s Asia Province capital. Today it forms a UNESCO-inscribed cultural landscape with relics of Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman history. Take the cable car to the ancient Acropolis for views south across the countryside, the modern city of Bergama below and the route you’ll soon be cycling. At the top, you’ll also see the giant Altar of Zeus, a theatre with vertiginously banked hillside seating and the Temple of Trajan with its giant, free-standing, Corinthian-capped columns.