The wooden horse at Troy. Not the original.
Well we got up today and headed to one of the most famous spots in Turkey….Troy. We were all very prepared to not actually see much as we had been told that the ruins themselves are unremarkable but the story behind them is what counts. People lived on the site of Troy for around 3,500 years and there are actually 9 layers of cities that exist on the site. The city that involves Helen and Paris, the giant wooden horse and Brad Pitt (ok maybe not that last one but Brad Pitt will always be in my Troy) is probably layer 6, 7 or 8 but no one is completely sure.
The outer walls of Troy from Roman times have been very well preserved as they were buried to protect the walls. As you walk past them you will notice that the lower levels are slanted which enables them to withstand earthquakes, but the upper levels are vertical, so it was not easy for someone to scale them. These walls would have protected the inner city where the aristocrats and wealthy would have lived but there is also evidence of an outer city outside those walls where the lower class would have lived.
A section of those outer walls. As you walk around the corner you will run into a large gate (well not any more but it use to be there) and that also acted as a great piece of the city's defense system.
Of course the reason you come to Troy is because of the battle and the giant horse. There is still a horse there….and no it is not original. The battle took place over a period of 10 years. All this over a women? I would like to say yes but let’s face it, it was much more likely over control of this piece of land which is on an important seas access point. The Greeks and Trojans have fought over it many times over the years. Most of the fighting actually took place away from the walls of Troy. It is said that the Greeks built a stone wall close to the water to protect their boats during the fighting. The wall has never been found but it is believed that the materials would have been used to build other things in the area. And for those of you who have seen the movie, the area surrounding Troy is anything but void of life and full of desert. It is a very green and beautiful area.
Looking towards the water from the upper level of Troy.
What is most amazing about the site is that only about 10% of Troy is visible at this time. It is believed that around 90% still needs to be excavated. There are new teams involved in excavations everyday and the area actually has corporate sponsors to see the work continue. All my information came from our tour guide for our visit to Troy, Moustaf, who has worked at the site for a while and has actually written a book about the history of Troy.
Looking down at a few of the ruins that have been excavated at Troy.
After lunch we headed to our final destination for the day which was Canakkale. We actually had a nice free afternoon so spend it wandering around a bit. There actually is not that much to see, except the horse used in the filming of Troy but that didn't stop me.
Imagine.....I was just walking down the street and there it was.
Eventually I ran into Paul and Winston so the 3 of us wandered a bit and then tried to find some place for tea. Turned out we did not find the right place because they would not sell us tea because it comes free after you order stuff. So Winston had a snack and we had some tea.
The sun setting on another great day.
Eventually we went for dinner and then headed to a friend of Ergun’s for some more tea. She is also a tour guide and was interested in hearing how the trip was going. She was also interested to learn some of the Turkish words Ergun had taught us. Hey, they were important words. I need to know how to swear at over aggressive shop keepers in the bazaar when my intense ignoring does not work.
The group of us hanging out. Our hosts were a little worried about us being there because they had just painted and she was worried we could still smell it. We couldn't smell the paint but a few of us did spent the visit trying to figure out how to get the very neat finish we were seeing.
Anyway, tomorrow is a long travel day as we head back to Istanbul. Can’t wait.
Julie
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