joe's new home

I spent some time yesterday reading up on the area of Turkey where Joe now lives and works. Its a pretty incredible place. Less than an hour north of Izmir, Turkey's 3rd largest city, is Aliaga (which is not really written with a 'g', nor is it pronounced how you see it here, but that's as close as English comes to deciphering the town's name), situated right on the Aegean coast.

(That's Joe's work in the distance)
The refinery is the town's main industry, but the coastal province where it is situated is also popular for their archeological and cultural sites. Izmir is just across the Aegean Sea from Athens, Greece and several of the main tourist sites are ancient Greek cities.

Aigai is one of these sites, just inland from Aliaga atop Mount Gun. Here is a picture I found of some of the ruins there:
A bit more information was available on another site, Bergama, where the ancient ruins of Pergamon are located. Hopefully Joe will be able to make it to see this site; it looks like there are some pretty impressive old structures, an archeological museum, and even some Ottoman historical attractions. Here's one of the photos I found from Pergamon: