We spent last night at the Iris Hotel in Canakkale – right on the Aegean Sea.
I have been looking forward to today’s sightseeing more than any other. We’ve all heard the story of the Trojan horse and today we’re going to Troy.
Troy (Truva in Turkish) is the site of the decade long Trojan War (1200 BC) and is the pivotal point of Homer’s lIiad, which I’m reading now. Being here makes the Iliad sooo fascinating!
Troy is actually nine different sites, one built over top of the other, so its timeline is something like 4000 BC to 300AD. Here is a signpost showing visitors the way to Troy 7B, Troy 8 and Troy 9.
As you walk around the site(s) you can see obvious differences in the ruins – like how the walls were built for example. In this area, there are markers right in the ground showing to which Troy the ruins belong.
The little white squares give the number of which “Troy” that area is linked to. You might have to click the photo to enlarge it enough to see the distinct signs.
The fact that there are 9 different cities atop one another threw off Heinrich Schliemann. Schliemann, a German amateur archaeologist, was determined to discover Troy, and he kind of did. Schliemann dug sideways into the “tell” and as a result there is now a huge trench that has caused damage to that part of the site. That and the fact that once he found a hoard of gold and silver jewelry he was done, makes him either an archaeological pioneer or a sleazy plunderer.
Here are a couple photos of Schliemann’s trench. Actually the one on the right is the road over the trench.
Its hard to imagine the excitement of the later archaeologists when the depth of this site was uncovered (all word play intended)
This photo (left) is of homes located outside the walls of Troy.
Below is a view of Troy’s amphitheater.
Now, on a totally different note: do you see cat in this photo? The black cat is a shadow. I don’t know what it is a shadow OF, but it stopped me in my tracks. There is a real kitty on the rock just to the right of the shadow cat. Weird, eh?
Be honest now…if you were hiking around ruins and saw this very unofficial sign, wouldn’t you want to explore?
Yes, of course, you would. Despite the handwritten sign, I followed the path and sure enough it lead me to a cave. Why? Beats me, but it was a pleasant side jaunt, peaceful and uncrowded.
And here it is! A replica of the Trojan Horse!
Our morning in Troy drew to a close and we headed back to Istanbul. Our return trip involved taking a car ferry (car, semi, tour busses, pickup truck with gypsies in the back) across the Dardanelles. (Remember the Dardanelles connects the Aegean and Black Seas.) Here’s a photo of the line to the ferry.
The ferry took maybe 20 minutes then we were on the road again.
At one of our rest stops, this little guy (the cook’s son) decided he’d like to go for a ride on the big bus, too. With all the attention he was getting he wasn’t interested in disembarking.
Too soon we were back in Istanbul, pulling up next to the TRYP by Windham. Since this was our original hotel it was like coming home after a vacation!
There is so much that I haven’t talked about in my blog – I wish I could share everything with you. Tomorrow is our last planned sightseeing day. Until then –