Crossing the Dardanelles by ferry to get to Chanakkale and the ancient city of Troy

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Getting out of Istanbul took several hours, partly because traffic was bad (which is saying a lot considering I’m from LA) and

because Istanbul is huge. I can’t remember the name of the town where we boarded the ferry. We were only there for an

hour or so while our bus driver negotiated the chaos of getting a bunch of buses, semi’s and car’s onto a little ferry. Gabriel

had a fried fish sandwich from a vender on the street that let him try a piece first. The sandwich was only 5 Turkish Lira

(about $2.75). He liked it so much he said he wished he could take it out of his stomach so that he could eat it again. I feel

the same way about Turkish baklava. The ferry ride was beautiful. When we arrived at Troy seeing the giant wooden horse

and taking a costume picture in front was the highlight. Of the 9 cities of Troy all built one on top of the other beginning

4000 years ago, there really isn’t much to see. Since seeing Troy we’ve visited a lot of ruins that were far more intact. We

spent the evening and night in Canakkale on the waterfront. The kordun (promenade) was filled with locals taking their

evening stroll with kids and dogs in tow. Most of these couples were young. Very different from Istanbul where a lot of what

we saw was the men together playing cards or backgammon and the women sitting in the street together with their kids

playing around them. We stumbled upon a small demonstration. The people were dancing and singing in the street wearing

their Turkish flags with a picture of Ataturk on the flag. They did a moving dance in a line that reminded us of the dance

Greek people do at weddings. It was a celebratory mood. We were eager to take pictures to show how fun and peaceful a

small Turkish protest can be.

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