Truva in Turkish, the area known as Hisarlik was the site of the mythical and historical city of Troy described by Homer. Troy had been excavated during the 19th century by Heinrich Schliemann, a German amateur archeologist who believed Troy truly existed. There was definitely a city at the site, and over a long period of time. 9 levels of cities had been found. However, no real proof that a war was fought over Helen or the existence of the Trojan horse. Schliemann was a controversial amateur archeologist (not that there were any professional ones in his day) who had  set out to prove that Homer's Troy existed. He did extensive excavation at this site and found cities, and he claimed one of those was the one involved in the Trojan War. Some nice golden treasures were found also. The site is now a national park, 30 km from Canakkale.

We drove out there early in the morning, arriving just before 10am. Some Romanian cars pulled up in front of us just before the turnoff, and stopped! What stupidity! Then they passed us again on the way to the gate. However, it turned out that they only took Turkish liras here and the Romanians did not have any! We went into the park and saw the reconstructed wooden Trojan horse. It was fun to have a few photos taken there, and one can also climb inside.

There was a small museum and then the site of the ruins and excavations, which was not huge but a good size. I was amazed at the amount of excavations here and the site had a lot to offer. It was breezy and not too hot, so we enjoyed walking and viewing the site. We were able to avoid the tour group crowds who arrived about an hour later and we left after spending more than 2 hours here. It was great to imagine what it must have been like more than 3000 years BC when the first Troy was here.

Leaving Troy, we went back on the road and drove along the sea of Mamara to Bursa. It was very windy and we stopped at one point to marvel over the waves on the sea. It was a good thing we didn't have to cross it today on the ferry. (A ferry sank only a few weeks later crossing the Marmara!)

The Aegean coast of Turkey is filled with ancient Greek cities. It’s difficult to differentiate them in your mind after the fact - was that cool amphitheatre at Aspendos or Aphrodisias? -  but these three stick out in my mind. This is partly because I’ve now been them twice but also because they are among the most visited by tourists.

Let’s start with Troy. Troy is certainly the most famous of the three.  I never knew Troy existed in real life until my first Turkey tour in 2003. There is so much allure and appeal to Troy because of its well-known history. I was so excited to visit the set of one of history’s most well-known stories.  Unfortunately for us there is little left to show that Helen, Paris, Hector and Achilles once dwelled in this place. Apart from an endearingly cheesy life-size replica of the infamous Horse, all that remains are old foundations, a couple of walls and a large ramp that was used for chariots (and alas, historians are sure that it wasn’t used to pull the horse into the city).

Our tour guide Captain Ali, who also showed us around Gallipoli (and had plenty more jokes about his wife and his short stature) did a nice job of pointing out some of the interesting details of the place like the difference between Greek and Roman walls. (Greeks had more emphasis on aesthetics for those of you dying to know.) 

While Troy is notable for its famous myth/history, the site of Pergamum offers more, well, sights and quite a few interesting tales of its own, told to us by another very interesting and knowledgeable guide .  As a weary traveler Pergamum lets you take in more of its history without struggling to imagine what it must have looked like in each of its nine different incarnations. There’s the Temple of Trajan, albeit in a ruined state, and a breath-taking old theatre that could hold about 10,000 people. It is breath-taking merely in its steepness. I felt my legs wobble as I looked down upon it. This is where, reportedly, the act of clapping first came into existence. Apparently, the Emperor used to come to see shows at this place and at the end of the performance, the Emperor got first dibs on leaving the place to avoid the gridlock that follows such an event. Unfortunately for the attendees, one Emperor didn’t have such a great attention span and used to fall asleep during the performances, forcing the poor spectators to spend the night until he awoke. As this continued to happen, the clever theatre-goers began clapping at the end of the performance in order to wake up the sleepy Emperor, which is a practice we’ve now continued to this day.

Pergamum is also where parchment was invented, after the Greeks were no longer able to acquire papyrus. The creation of this parchment was highly successful, and as a direct result or not, Pergamum also became home to the second largest library in the ancient world, only after Alexandria. However, no books remain from that library because the whole collection was given to Cleopatra as a wedding gift. The Pergamumians (?) were seemingly quite generous because they not only gave up their lovely library but also their entire kingdom. The last king of Pergamum, before it became Roman territory, actually just handed over his whole empire to the Romans. Apparently, he had no heirs or was off his rocker at the time of death. This region of Turkey is one of the few areas of the Roman world that wasn’t taken by force.

Ironically, what was taken from the Turks was an important part of Pergamum’s history and it wasn’t the Romans who were to blame. The exquisite Altar of Zeus, with its marble friezes of an epic battle between the gods and the giants, is nowhere to be found. Where it used to be, there is nothing left but some foundations and an old tree. You have to travel to Berlin, Germany to see this ancient altar at the Pergamum Museum. There is of course much controversy over this, much like Elgin’s Marbles at the Acropolis in Athens. It is unlikely that these will be returned, as the Germans would have to change the name of an entire museum to do so.

Leaving the area around Gallipoli I got to the ferry - to gross the narrow straight at the Dardanelles which separates Europe and Asia. When I got to the ferry there it was Asia in the distance. To the surprise of many of my friends and people I know this would actually be the first time ever I went to Asia - not counting the stops in the airports of Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Everybody seems to assume if you have travelled abroad more than a couple of times you must have been to Asia somewhere along the way but no in my case.

Safely across the ferry in Asia in the land of so many old myth of strange people and strange cultures - but it did actually look quite a lot like the European side of Turkey - both the people, the landscape and the cities were more or less the same. After all it is a small fairly integrated world.

When safely in Asia it was on to see one special sight - the ancient city of Troy.

Troy - few ancient cities names sound more familiar than this one. The name well known to almost everyone thanks to Hollywood who has retold the ancient stories of Troy. The original reason Troy got its fame is due to the epic work Iliad by Homer in ancient Greece. This story with the figures of Achilles, Hector, Paris and Helen was part of the classes of ancient history in high school. Hence when I was 17-18 I read the story of Troy with great enthusiasm - yeah right I read it because I kind of had to if I wanted a semi decent grade in the class. Before the trips I wanted to pick up a copy in the bookshop to actually reread the story during my trip but as usual I did not make it to the bookshop in time and they are not selling the Iliad in the airport.

The reason I went to Troy were Homer - without his stories nobody would go there. Then what is around at the ancient sight? The answer - not much. There are a few leftovers from the old city but most of it has been levelled to the ground many years ago. Hence what is there is primarily rubbles and a small not to interesting museum - and the main sight of the place a replica of the Trojan horse.

Do I have any regrets about going? No a place so famous you kind of have to go just to see it for yourself - then you can draw your conclusion that there is really nothing to see around there. If I had just pasted Troy because everybody told there was nothing there would always have been a bit of doubt in the back of my mind - were they really right is there nothing there?

After Troy it is on to Selcuk in a hotel with a very nice pool.

I’ve always thought that Troy is somewhere in Greece after hearing stories of Helen of Troy and Alexander the great, but it is in Turkey. Am I totally misinformed? ;-)

Here my story goes. This is one of my many memorable trips. I had a God-brother that lived in Bodrum and he has a clinic there. His name is Cem. C is pronounce as J in Turkish. He is a doctor but for a few years before, he worked as a tour guide with one of a famous tour company in Istanbul.  He lived in both cities and juggles his time between Bodrum and Istanbul where the family lived. He spoke fluent Japanese and French. He always asked me to come along to one of his tour but I refused. Until one day I asked him if he can be my personal guide to see the city of Troy, in Turkish is Troya. He jumped to that idea and happily agreed. It was summer of 1997, he waited for me at Ataturk airport in Istanbul and we drove away to Canakkale at night. According to him it is much cooler because the summer heat annoyed him a lot. The journey took about 4hours without the traffic. We only make one stop, we ate at the famous Kofte (meatballs or dumplings) in Tekirdag. Tekirdag also famous for produced the best Raki in Turkey. It is called ‘Tekirdag Rakisi’.

Many Turkish citizens from big cities have a summer house somewhere at the coastal of Turkey. The reasons, so they can get away for their summer holiday and cool off. It is also economical and very practical. Summer temperature in Turkey can be very hot, trust me. This is the time you can see many golden peoples, it is one of my private joke with my God brother. His summer house is at Saros, Canakkale. Location of this place is near the gulf of Aegean Sea, north-east of Turkey. Only take about 5mins to walk to the beach and you can see Greece from the house when the weather is fine. According to some stories, sometime there is a lost Greek fisherman at the shore. Sometime you can accidentally hear a Greek song on the radio. This place is peaceful and the other side of this village, there are mountain where you can see so many sunflower, my favorite flower.

Cem loves to fish and diving. That is his favorite hobby. He has two children, one boy and one girl. The boy name is Mert, he can remember nearly half of the fish name from his encyclopedia book when he was 6yrs. Ceren the little girl, she is a charmer, I love going around the village with her, she make an instant friend and with her I make a lot of new friends. Cem wife, she is kind and a sweet lady, always have ever ready smile on her face. Since Cem fishing everyday, we ate fish everyday too. His wife Umur will cook it in a different way and taste each time. Let me tell you that I am not a ‘fish eater’, I am more of a ‘meat eater’ but I can’t complain. The nearest market where sell fresh meat is miles away at Gelibolu. To be polite, I never tell them about it but one morning Ceren told his dad that I talk in my sleep and I shout how much I hate fish. My face turn white, lol ;-p Gelibolu is Gallipoli in English. Famous for the Turkey independent war, they do not let the Australian and New Zealander to go through. They were called Anzak. Turkey does not let them to go through the Canakkale Channel. The Anzak are the alliance of the British army. Canakkale Channel is the end of Asia and the beginning of Europe. There is also now a monument for the war memorial, every year many people come here. I like the area of the market. They have a small harbor, shops, many tea houses and restaurants. I can speak the language so I mingle with the people. They find it strange to find this Moreno guy spoke their language.

Only Mert and Cem went with me to Troy. We started early in the morning. Cem told us to go to the toilet first before we start our journey because he hates to stop along the way unless it is for emergency. But, we did make one stop because I wanted to take a photo with the sunflower along the way. I got a knock on the head. It’s worth it though! We reached at this area called Dardanel and there is where the Canakkale ferry station is. The ferry will take us to the other side crossing the Canakkale Bogazi, the channel. Dardanel are very popular with the export of salmon, the best manufactured in Turkey and very famous. We reached in Troy around noon. Cem is a good tour guide, he explained in details and wanted me and Mert to ask him question if we don’t understand. I can’t believe my eyes when I see the Trojan horse in front of me. We even climb up the horse and put my head out of one of the window pretending I am the soldier with a sword like in the movie. We wonder around the area and looking amaze. There are so many excavations being done while we are there. I love historical place, sometime it gives you a goose pimple like you are blend with the history. I am very satisfied and glad with this visit to Troy. We bought some salmon on the way home and reach home safely.

The rest of the trip, we went two more time to the market at Gelibolu. I did a lot of shopping here and drinking at the tea houses. We spend countless time at the beach. I either swim, diving or just lazing around reading my book. I try to look around for lost Greek fisherman but I see none, maybe it is just a story. I came back from Turkey very sick. I caught a pneumonia and have to go to the hospital. At my hospital bed, I think a lot of this trip and make me very happy. I recovered fast. Especially that I’ve been loved by uvey kardesim and his family. ;-) J

p.s. Take a look of the before and after photo of the family ;-)