It’s not often that you can visit a well-preserved site from antiquity and have it all to yourself. In the rich archaeological crossroad of Western Türkiye’s Balıkesir province, you can indeed at a small site that faces the sea. Lying right off a modern highway along the Aeneas Route of ancient sites, the ruins of Antandros are tucked so tightly into a wooded slope of sacred Mount Ida that you could easily drive right by. But find the city and you’ll be rewarded with a series of marvelous 4th-century mosaics in the site’s Roman Maritime Villa.
Detail from a floor mosaic at the ancient city of Antandros in western Türkiye’s Balıkesir province.
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The first settlement of Antandros dates to the 20th century BC. Some big ancient names have all described different origin stories to the Greek city, from Herodotus, Thucydides and Aristotle, to Strabo in his Geographica. The vital fact is that the city long controlled the timber trade—specifically the oriental pine tree and Valonia oak—and thus shipbuilding until modern times.
Most famously, it’s here where Virgil has Aeneas and his surviving Trojan companions journeying from Troy over the Ida mountains to build his fleet before sailing off on the long voyage to Italy. Today, Türkiye promotes the site as part of the Aeneas Route, a multi-nation endeavor to trace the Aeneid story to its modern locations. According to Homer, Hera and Zeus wed in a ceremony in Mount Ida (also known in Turkish as Kaz Dağları).
In Türkiye’s Çanakkale province, Yeşilyurt is a stone village just inland from the Aegean.
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Archaeologists only began extensive excavations of Antandros some 25 years ago, principally of villas that are set up row house-style. Room One is the star among the six, a reception room in which three walls have six panels each that depict figures carrying drinks who face the door and guests. They are surely servants, yet curiously they are also elegantly dressed. A swirling floor mosaic is stunning that shows two birds at its center drinking from a kantharos style of Greek cup.
Equally large, Room Three features inlaid marble flooring, much of it preserved today, while in front of it a portico mosaic shows off a running panther. The site’s lower terrace has shops and a sophisticated bath and sewage system. Antandros was settled until the 6th century when Arab raids forced abandonment.
Old stone houses draw plenty of visitors to the village of Adatepe in Türkiye’s western Çanakkale province.
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Nearby on the old Ottoman İzmir-Çanakkale road, and next to a gurgling stream, the Manastirhan Kazdaglari hotel’s restaurant makes for a refreshing lunch spot to follow your visit to the ruins. The mood is festive as Turkish families come with young kids who swim and play on the leafy grounds.
Also, nearby, and truly off the beaten path in agricultural foothills of the Ida Mountains, the small Idamera farm is run on circular agriculture principles by Austrian wife Gudrun and Turkish-Austrian husband Ferit. While a few friendly dogs wander about the farmhouse property, you can sit at a picnic table and sample their products of pickled goods, olive and marinated cheese oils, and have a look at their herb garden and olive, fig and pear trees. Ferit milks the cows in a non-stressful environment for their cheeses (they have sheep too), which include a popular Camembert variety. The couple even conducts bread and cheese workshops.
Fifteen miles to the west of Antandros and a few mountainous miles inland, Adatepe is an old village (Greek until the 1923 Greece/Türkiye population exchange) famous for having one stone house after another along narrow cobblestone alleys. Quite a few have now been converted into inns and restaurants. You can also stop by simply to enjoy Turkish coffee or the cool ayran yogurt drink under the main square’s plane and cypress trees.
A few ridges further west, Yeşilyurt village is also all cobblestone alleys built around a small leafy main square. The 5 a.m. call to prayer can be easily heard anywhere in this gorgeous hamlet. With just 24 rooms, Manici Kasri inn is surprisingly spread out; from a main house and terrace, the property extends across a bridge above a street and on to a tower holding another set of rooms.
Their chef’s tasting menu focuses on locally grown products from the Ida Mountains, with mezes including smoked salmon paté, spinach borani with walnuts and yogurt, and hummus with smoked rib. The glass-enclosed breakfast room is a bright and cheery place to start the day, where deliveries of fresh strawberries and other fruit are brought in by basket before your eyes.
A scene in the Ida Mountains of western Türkiye that were sacred to the ancients.
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Even further west in the Ida Mountains, the property also runs an agritourism inn with 17 villas and ten luxury safari tents. They practice organic and sustainable dairy farming with cheese making, along with olive oil and soap production.
Up here in the Ida Mountains, the ancient world world never felt so close.
Note: Also read this post on visiting nearby Troy, and here on the ancient site of Assos.
