Blogs from Troy, Marmara, Turkey, Middle East
November 5th 2011
TROY! I get to see Troy! First, we left Izmer this morning and headed toward Pergamum, moving north along the Agean Sea. Our guide told us the is a position for people who live in apartment complexes called a doorman, but not like the doorman we know. This person goes out to get stap,e groceries each week for you and is available for you to call with any request, like a craving for ice cream in the middle of the night, and they go get that for you. He told how his doorman knows his tour schedule and makes sure he gets up on time and has some dinner ready for him if his flight gets in late. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. He told us at businesses in Turkey don't have coffee ... read more
August 18th 2011
This morning we left at 8.30 and we drove half an hour to Troy. On the way our guide told us about the legend of Helen of Troy and once we arrived we looked in the excavation building, and then went for a guided walk around the excavation sites. We learnt alot about the Trojan history which was really interesting. She told us about the 9 Troys, each village built on top of the one before after each one was destroyed, usually by earthquakes. We saw the original fortification walls dating all the way back to the 1st Troy village in 3000BC. We also saw the South Gate entrance to Troy 6, which is where Archilles killed Hector if the legends are true. After a couple of hours at Troy we it back on the bus ... read more
April 10th 2011
Another bright sunny day with an early morning crispness. We are learning to layer with our clothes as the middle of the day is quite warm. Our first stop was a visit to the ancient city of Troy. Over time nine cities were built on this one site and the Aegean Sea was much closer. To be met by the giant wooden horse was similar to being met by giant carrots in Ohakune, L & P at Paeroa, kiwi fruit at Te Puke, and numerous fish in the South Island. All a bit touristy but appealed to certain groups of tourists who enjoyed the photo opportunity. While clambering around the ruins we half expected to see Brad Pitt appear brandishing his sword. But no such luck. It was an incredible feeling to know that great Greek ... read more
June 12th 2009
I'm not really sure about all the fuss over Troy. Helen and all that, plus the links to the creation of Rome. But anyway, it is virtually on the highway south out of Canakkale. It is interesting in some ways and I got a picture of the important bit, the palace walls of Troy VI and Hilary, So I guess that is Hilary of Troy. After Troy we left the highway to take some rather more interesting roads out to Babakale. Some through tiny villages with chickens in the street, and on one occasion an untethered foal which was a bit shocked by the Harley, but nothing bad happened. Other parts were on some lovely winding roads through olive groves, hills, and at times the coast, all of which was very pretty. Then there was the ... read more
June 6th 2009
Although I am not technıcally ın Troy right now, we did visit Troy (Truva in Turkısh) today. On the whole the site was quıte ımpressıve especıally gıven that fact that parts of it were built over 5000 years ago. Hightlights from the ruins included a cave (I think I have seen more caves in the last 3 weeks than I will probably see for the rest of my life), Nessie posing as Achilles clutching her heel infront of a group of tourists, and our picnic lunch (we ended up finding the most delightful little bench to eat it on aswell). We spent the afternoon at a beach just outside of Canakkale where Nessie and I were actually the only non-Turkish people. We managed to keep a group of children entertained for at least 45 minutes by ... read more
March 17th 2009
From our base in Tusan Hotel in Canakkale, we reached Troy in about 2 hours. Homer's legendary Troy or Truva does not offer much to see, but we spent a good time here to remember enough. A full scale mock-up of the Trojan horse welcomed us as we entered the site. Way past this mock-up horse, we found the legendary walls of Troy, allegedly the site of the Trojan War (circa 1200 B.C.). There is a school of thought claiming that Homeric Troy was not in Anatolya, but located either in England, Croatia, or even Scandinavia, but such was not accepted by mainstream scholars. We have no arguments about the authenticity of this site as the real Troy. Oktay our Tour Director proved to be a very competent historian with loads of patience as he explained ... read more
September 23rd 2008
DAY 2: Selcuk via TROY I was attacked………by giant mosquitos!!! I survived my first morning of camping. Groggily I woke up after a somewhat restless nights sleep for absolutely crazy 5am start. The first thing I noticed as I rubbed my face was all the lumpy bits around my eyes and forehead. I nearly died - There were 6 in total and they were all the size of 10 cent pieces covering my face. I was attacked by a troop of mosquitoes in my sleep, making me look like a giant toad covered in warts. (Not a pretty description I know - but what else can I think of when waking up in a tent covered in bites?) I don’t remember much from the previous night other than the fact that I had spent a vast ... read more
May 10th 2008
HAHA That got your attentıon! Well not exactly, but I purchased an 80 cent weddıng (-lookıng) rıng as an attempt to deter the eager Turkısh men from harrassıng me. Im already tıred of the proposıtıons so hopefully thıs should help. Troy was amazıng! It was so cool to see the remaıns of a cıty that was buılt about 4500 years ago. There were 9 layers of cıty that were buılt over one another. It was a 30 mınute bus rıde from Cannakale to Troy, and ıt was so peaceful and beautıful at the ruıns. It was really cool to see that they had terracotta pıpıng over 4000 years ago...ıt really says somethıng about how advanced theır cıvılızatıon was. After checkıng out Troy, Wendy (Waterloo, Chınese Canadıan) and I had a great Turkısh lunch wıth lentıl soup, ... read more
August 28th 2007
Hello Bloggers! For those of you waıtıng wıth baıted breath to hear the latest, apologıes for the delay ın updatıng thıs - we have had some dodgy ınternet connectıons over the past couple of weeks ın Bulgarıa and Turkey - but not to worry ...here we are. The keys on thıs are a bıt funny too so please excuse the ı ınstead of i.. So last we left you we were ın Brasov, Romanıa... one of our favourıte towns of the trıp so far, we stayed an extra day and then headed south just an hour to Sınaıa, a lovely lıttle town ın the mountaıns establıshed as a monastary for some more hıkıng. Not as dramatıc as the mountaıns ın Slokavıa but stıll quıte pıctuesque wıth forested slopes and waterfalls ın places and a couple of ... read more
