Troy!

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!)