Turkey Day 2 @ The City of Troy Çanakkale

On the second day, our journey continued by heading to the South of Turkey.
A place full of history and myth and it has something related to a wooden...?

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Can you see the dotted red line on the map? That was our path for Day 2. It looks relatively near and short distance from the map but believe it or not the bus from Istanbul to this city took around 6 hours with lunch time in between!

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Click for larger view

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Evil eye

Along the road, all I can see was nothing but fields. I cannot imagine how large is this land but everything look so beautiful and fairytale-like. I can imagine ancient worriers riding horses and on this wide field holding swords and banner of their houses...

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My first Çay (Turkish black tea)

In order to get to our destination, we need to cross pass by the Aegean sea. They have ferries to carry vehicles (just like Penang once had) to the Asia part of Turkey. Do you know that Turkey is made up of two continents, Europe and Asia? Imagine by just crossing a bridge and you can be on the other continent without having to show your passport. Isn't it cool to be a Turkish? However only Istanbul is considered Europe and I wonder do the Turkish insisted on getting their children being born in Istanbul so that they can be Europeans?  

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Ferry loading on trucks

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I was so excited to know that Greece was just on my right at that time!

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So deep and blue

I have no idea why but the seagulls was following the ferry until the other side of the land as if they were escorting it. The tourists were fascinated to see the gulls though, such a rare and beautiful sight. You can view my Instagram video here.

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We reached the land after 40 minutes of ferry ride. And guess what, we were greeted by a  white UNICORN! This is indeed a land of fairytale!

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For those of you who are wise enough to notice the title of this post should have known the city I am about to write about right? Yes, it is none other than Troy.

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Troy, with its 4,000 years of history, is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. The first excavations at the site were undertaken by the famous archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1870. In scientific terms, its extensive remains are the most significant demonstration of the first contact between the civilizations of Anatolia and the Mediterranean world. Moreover, the siege of Troy by Spartan and Achaean warriors from Greece in the 13th or 12th century B.C., immortalized by Homer in the Iliad, has inspired great creative artists throughout the world ever since.

Unesco.org

I was really sad and almost fell into depression to watch the movie TROY a week after I came back from Turkey. If only time can be rewind, and to I were to visit this archeological site after I have watched the movie. Not the opposite. So that I can see how ruin is the city now compare to the computer-generated glorious moment of Troy once upon a time.  Seriously if you have not watch this movie either, go watch NOW.

Excavations revealed that this piece of land, before Troy,  had 9 different cities and 46 levels of habitations almost 3000BCE. Which impressed me a lot because I still couldn't imagine a city being totally buried and gone while another new city being built on it after some years.

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9 different levels, 9 different cities

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Excavation of 9 cities

The City of Ruin---Troy.

With almost everything being demolished.

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Is believe to be the entrance to the City of Troy

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The odean

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Is believe to be the entrance to the acropolis

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Bricks were stacked together using sand, mud and egg white. YES, egg white.

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FYI, that is me on the center window

Do you know about the story behind this wooden horse?
Those who are interested can read the full story here, watch the movie or read the summary below :)
 

The Trojan Horse is a tale from the Trojan War about the subterfuge that the Greeks used to enter the city of Troy and win the conflict. In the canonical version, after a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse, and hid a select force of men inside. The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back under cover of night. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city of Troy, decisively ending the war.

Wikipedia

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Although this place is look less interesting (due to massive damaged) than it supposed to be, the story and myth of this place did not fail to interest me.
I love myths. Especially the ones with ruins and better ones which turned into movies.
Still, I hope to hop back to the ferry and cross the Aegean sea to Greece! I believe there are more ruins to be explore.

Hope you enjoy reading the post! 
x


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