CANAKKALE (GATEWAY TO TROY) TO KUSADASI, TURKEY--Tuesday, May 7, 2013

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Ancient cities of Troy

Breakfast at the Tusan Hotel was at 7:30 and we were loaded on the bus by 8:00 and ready to ride the short distance to the ancient city of Troy. Silly us, we thought Troy was in Greece, and it was. However, this spot of Turkey, and much of Anatolia, had belonged to Greece during the Trojan Wars.

There has been a city on this spot for thousands of years from the early Bronze Age to the 12^th century AD. The archaeological ruins are now 5km from the coast, but were once right on a bay. This site occupied a strategically important position by controlling the principal point of access to the Black Sea through the Dardanelles. Excavations at this site revealed 9 different cities and 46 levels of habitation.

Troy was first excavated by Frank Calvert in 1863 and by Heinrich Schliemann who continued excavations from 1870 until his death in 1890. He found 10,000 gold and silver jewelry, vessels and other objects that he sent to Berlin where most remain today. The excavations are continuing and have been labeled Troy I through Troy IX to distinguish the different time periods.

Some of the group, me included, found it rough going over and around the ruins as the 3-4 feet wide wooden boardwalk had many broken and rotting boards that left large gaps you could definitely fall into. They have put in some new sections of wood down, but they should hurry to get it repaired by summer. While you had to watch where you were stepping, you had to “fight” through a mass of people coming at you from the other direction. This site, for safety sake, definitely needs to be lead by guides in one direction only. The site was also up and down steps and was strenuous going in places. Stray dogs, puppies, and cats are ALL over the place.

One of the most popular sights here, that is still very visible, is a long rock ramp that might have been used to haul the Trojan Horse up from the shore and into the city walls. At another spot, the ingenuity of the architects in one of the early periods who designed the entrance to the city such that people had to turn a corner to enter. If there were enemy forces trying to enter, when they turned the corner, they were faced with walls that were closer together, which forced the enemy into a smaller space creating a bottleneck. The soldiers at the top could then kill them in the cramped space.Interesting place with a lot of reconstruction and preservation work still to be done.

Back on the bus we drove through rolling hills heading south through agricultural land. Olive groves, walnut, and apricot orchards and flocks of sheep and goats being herded by shepherds can be seen out the bus window. Didn’t spot working dogs with them.

We continued riding south until we came through the forested hills to the shores of the Aegean Sea. Lots of summer homes along this coastal area but there is no beach to speak of, just the edge of the water. In the town of Bergamon we had lunch; I had a buffet and Valerie had a cheese pizza as her first order of meat and cheese pizza was too spicy for her.

We entered Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey, and drove through new expensive apartment complexes, along the water, and then along the promenade where vendors were selling mussels. Along the promenade there were lots of interesting statues, including the "highway to nowhere." Another was a pair of storks dressed in wedding finery in front of a matrimonial venue.

We stopped for a photo opportunity at a big monument that we have no idea what it represented. If you don’t get close to the guide right out of the bus or you are taking pictures of something else, you miss the explanation. I stayed in the bus as I could see it just fine from my seat.

We then quickly left the city and drove into the mountains for some time before entering a large fertile valley. The drive continued through strawberry fields in addition to orchards of apricot and red-orange blooming pomegranate trees and citrus and olive groves.

Came into a very old town with walls and ruins we think was Selcuk, the “gateway” to Ephesus I, II, and III. It is located on what once was a bay but silted up and became swamp/marsh land and then silted some more to become fertile valley. For now, we just drove through looking at the storks and their nests on top of columns as it was late, and we needed to check in to the hotel. We were assured we would be back the next day.

Crossed a coastal range of mountains and dropped into the town of Kusadsi where we would spend two nights in Hotel Onder, perched on the side of a hill. We lucked out and got a room with a balcony overlooking the bay below. Two big cruise ships were in port. Buffet dinner was served at 7:30 out on the patio.

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