So we left Gelibolu early on the 26th of August. We were happy that we’d completed another goal and just as happy to have left the Hampton by Hilton Hotel. To be fair the hotel wasn’t the only place that disappointed us in the food line. We just got sick of reading menus then being told “sorry, we don’t have that.” An example was I asked at the bar for squash/soda for Shane. None here. So I asked for a cider. Out of that. So then I tried for a Rose’ but they had none of that either so it was beers for both of us. My efforts for a drink were similar so I asked why were they on the menu? “We have just run out” was the reply. The food menu was the same so we eventually ordered a grilled chicken sandwich each only to get a not fully cooked chicken burger. We spent the next few days on and off (mainly on) the dunny.
Our first stop was the ancient city of Troy where Eric Bana mortally wounded Brad Pitt. Mythology tells us that it was Hector who put the arrow in Archilles heel but we’ve all seen the movie. Of course Troy would not be complete without the Trojan Horse so we got a few compulsory tourist shots of it before moving into the the museum which was fascinating with artifacts going back over 3000 years. We could have spent much longer there but it was the city ruins we wanted to see and we also had to reach Izmir by dark.
Once into the ruins it was incredible to try to get your head around the fact this was over 3000 years old and an actual place not some hollywood mock up. It is not easy to visualise Troy live let alone through photos so I have tried to post as many interpretive signs as I could to help explain what you are looking at in the gallery.
City of Troy
It was going to be a long drive so we had to leave Troy and shoot off to Izmir. As mentioned earlier a tummy bug had made life difficult for us so at Izmir we just locked ourselves in our unit for the next day to recover. Forunately we didn’t have much on our checklist to see except the Roman Agora or Smyrna.
As today was to be a short drive we checked out early and hit the Agora (after driving in circles down tiny laneways to find the gate). Inside we got lucky and met a young university graduate (with BSc & Masters) who wanted to expand his conversational english and so he offered to act as a guide for us. I do hope he contacts us through the blog as I am angry with myself for not getting his details.
Because his and my degrees were of a similar topic we were able to have some deep conversation and exchange some concepts of human geography relevant to both our cultures as well as this ancient Roman Agora and its people. He did a wonderful job of bringing these ruins to life and the city of Smyrna was easily interpreted as a real place of commerce and everday living. We were all suitably impressed by the engineering involved in constructing the city with only the tools of 3 millenia ago.
Smyrna
Those last few photos are of our hotel in Kusadasi. As you can see it was very decorative. So much so I had to post these to show the detail and care in making this the brightest, most overpowering, gawdy, ornate hotel we’ve ever stayed in.
Watch for the next post due soon. I just have to sort the photos and it will be posted too.
Bye for now,
Garry & Shane