Acropolis
The hilltop Acropolis measures about five square city blocks. Founded about 1000 BC by Aeolian Greeks, the city was successively ruled by Lydians, Persians, Pergamenes, Romans, and Byzantines, until Sultan Orhan Gazi (ruled 1324–62) took it over for the Ottomans in 1330. Aristotle is said to have spent time here in the 4th century BC, and St. Paul stopped en route to Miletus in about AD 55.
You're best off leaving your car on one of the wider streets and making your way on foot up the steep, cobbled lanes to the top, where you'll be rewarded with sensational views of the coastline and, in the distance, the Greek island of Lesbos, whose citizens were the original settlers of Assos. At the summit is the site of the Temple of Athena (circa 530 BC), which has splendid sea views but has been somewhat clumsily restored. A more modern addition, right before the entrance to the ruins, is the Murad Hüdavendigâr Camii, a mosque built in the late 14th century.
