Today was the day to visit Troy. To go from the recent wars to the ancient. With the common link of the view to control the Dardenelles/Hellespont (for different reasons). It is a peninsular that encourages the desire to control-for wealth, strategy and resources.
We stopped firstly in Canakkale Museum which houses some of the findings from Troy. Then Troy itself.
Its a working archaeological site (which needs funding). You need a bit of imagination and a good guide (which we have) to bring it to life.
There are nine layers to Troy (Troia). Troia VI is likely to be the one referred to by Homer.
We had lunch at a small restaurant where our guide had to order in Turkish for us. Best rice pudding ever.
That evening we travelled to the town of Ayvalik on the Aegean Sea. It is home to numerous olive trees and tomato plants. The town itself has a Croatian feel about it with the woodwn sailboats along the dock. The pension our group was staying in was cute. Bright rooms and a huge terrace overlooking a mosque down to the sea. It was such a beautiful view that a few of us hightailed it down to the town to pick up beer (Efes being the standard choice) to drink while watching sunset. We then ordered pizza to eat on the terrace. It turned into a bit if a raucous affair with beer and raki!
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