On Saturday, 30 June 2012, in the morning our group left the hotel in Istanbul for our next destination. Our destination that day was the ancient city of Troy (Truva) on the Asian side of Turkey. The Asia side of Turkey is called Anatolia, while the Europe side of Turkey is called Thrace. Our journey would be about four-hour bus drive to the town of Eceabat on Gallipoli Peninsula of the European side of Çanakkale Province, through the Tekirdağ Province. From
Eceabat, we and our bus boarded car ferry to the Asian side of Çanakkale Province, for approximately half an hour. Upon reaching the Asian side, we continued the bus drive for less than an hour to the Troy historic site.
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| The view of Bosporus (or Marmara?) from the window of my hotel room in Istanbul |
While still in Istanbul that day and the day before, we saw remains of fortresses. We were told that they used to be the boundary of the old city of Istanbul. In fact, the old city area of Istanbul itself is also known as "the walled city".
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| Remains of the fortresses |
During the long journey every day, Ümit always told us regarding our place to visit, as well as a sort of "lecture" on various aspects of Turkey and Turkish people. He always did this at the beginning of long bus journeys. That day, he "lectured" on the geography of Turkey and its neighbouring countries and seas. His "lectures" were interesting, but he understood that we preferred to sleep during the long journey. That was why he always ended his explanation with "good night" ;)
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| Ümit as geography teacher |
Crossing the Dardanelles: First Time Car Ferry Ride
On the journey to Eceabat, we stopped in Tekirdağ at a gas station, with restaurant, convenience store and of course toilets within the premise. Actually during our land journeys in Turkey, we often made stop at this sort of facility for toilet and shopping snacks. We then continued our journey to Eceabat, where we ate lunch on a sea-shore restaurant near the ferry quay from which we left for the Asian side of Çanakkale.
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| Our lunch menu for the day was fish, barracuda if I am not mistaken |
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| and of course, preceded by this typical appetizer... |
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| The ferry boat was waiting outside |
We then embarked the ferry together with our bus, but instead of staying in the bus on the lower deck, we waited on the upper deck. This was the first experience for me to board a vehicle ferry. We would board the bus again after arriving at the shore of Asian side.
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| Vehicles below, while passengers above, enjoying the view of Dardanelles |
This would be an embarrassing story for me: While the ferry were approaching the shore of the Asian side, passengers including me went down to embark their vehicles. On the way down, I thought that the time would be enough for toilet. In fact when upstairs, I did not know that the toilet, in fact only a pair of quite shabby lavatories, was located on the lower deck, I just knew some time before I went down. However, there were two people before me by the lavatory, so I had to wait for them. After going out from the lavatory, I found that the boat had stopped since several minutes ago. While the vehicles including our bus had to leave immediately upon arrival, it was very likely for me to be left behind. Luckily for me, (1) I could still get to the bus very easily, (2) everyone was waiting for me, I was also complained by my father and mother, I was also ashamed, but fortunately the group did not make me their enemy. Thanks, God, I was lucky, but I should keep in mind not to do this again. Sorry, everyone, for the inconvenience I made :(
We then arrived at the Asian side of Çanakkale. We were told that actually, the place we just left, Gallipoli Peninsula, was a historic battlefield. Schoolchildren from all over Turkey made annual study tour there to learn history, but Ümit told us that the visits were started only after a past prime minister of Turkey (forgot who) was inspired after a talk to his Japanese counterpart on how to teach history in interesting way to schoolchildren.
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| Scene of Asia side of Çanakkale |
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| The Dardanelles with Gallipoli Peninsula on the background |
Troy/Truva
After driving less than an hour, we reached our destination for the day, the Troy (Truva in Turkish) ancient city historic site. It is well-known for the story of the Trojan War with Trojan Horse of Troy at the ending of the story. The story was about a war between Trojan people (people of Troy city) and Greek people with several main characters, the most well-known being Achilles, Paris, and Helen. The film of Troy were played during our journey to the Gallipoli Peninsula, but since the television screen was so small and not clear enough, I opted to sleep ;p
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| The Trojan Horse of Troy, the landmark at the main entrance of the site which is in fact just a replica |
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| Remains of potteries at the historic site: the nearby city Çanakkale (meaning "pottery castle") may got its name from this |
The Troy historic site has several stacked layers from layer I to IX. The stacks were formed because people settled and built city and civilization in Troy, but eventually the city was destroyed not only due to war, but also earthquake and sea level regression, contrary to the concern of global warming nowadays. The ancient cities including Troy were often built on the shore to become commercial port. When the sea level regressed, it lost the importance as trading port and as a result, people moved away from the city. While not many can be seen from the remains of the Troy historic site, the excavations of the site are still needed to unearth more historic pieces.
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| The text was one of the ancient cities at the site.
Almost no building remained complete |
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| This was maybe where the Trojan War took place |
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| Remain of the wall of ancient fortress with holes of archery |
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| Cross-sectional view of the layers of Troy, coded from I to IX for archaeology |
After walking through the ruins, for which Ümit told us to use our imagination since no building remained in its full form, we were back to the main entrance and took photo with the Trojan Horse of Troy replica, which became landmark of the site. There were also photo service taking our pictures in Troy characters. Male visitors were given costume of a less significant character and posed as if swinging the sword to the Achilles' shield. Meanwhile, female visitors were given costume of Helen. Each photo was charged 10 Turkish liras and unfortunately we were not allowed to take picture with our own cameras.
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| The instant photo of me duelling with Achilles, I did not know for sure whom I performed, but not Paris, I guess |
Finally, we left the ancient site, but not before shopping souvenirs, in forms of replicas, for our hotel at the seaside. There, we checked in, had dinner, and then rested for the day. The hotel quality was surely below that in Istanbul we stayed the day before. The room was not so clean and I was even so unlucky to get the water running so weak when I took bath before going to sleep. Previously, Ümit told us not to expect too much regarding the hotel quality in Anatolia, since the area was less developed than Istanbul.
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| This was preparation for a wedding party. That night became noisy with it |
Before going to sleep after dinner, most of our group, including me, went to see the sunset from the hotel backyard, which had beach Since it was summer, the sunset only happened sometime at 9:00 pm.
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| I failed to watch the sunset progressing till end. The sea was Dardanelles with Mediterranean Sea to the left and Gallipoli Peninsula at the background |
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