Day 98
Troy, Canakkale Turkey
We'd already crossed the harbour to Canakkale from Gallipoli and were at our accomodation at Anzac House so we only had to wait in reception for the bus to Troy...a few of the others on the tour had to walk to Anzac House and in the rain, it wasn't much fun! Was such a shame to be raining here...
didn't stop us from standing at the edge of the Trojan Horse in the centre of Canakkale, just near the harbour..the horse that was built for the movie that Brad Pitt played Achilles in...in the trojan story of Troy. Have to tell you too...that in the little plaque saying it was Brad Pitt...the Turkish wrote Brat Pitt!!! haha!
Anyway...to go on...The trip to Troy was intriguing. Our tour Guide..called Momfasa (who wrote a book about Troy and Gallipoli which we bought, and he signed!) was born in Troy and lives and breathes the history and archaelogy of Troy.
It is actually a legend written by Homer. (and without Homer we'd know nothing about Troy!) I was trying to think what i knew about Troy and all i could muster up was the fact that a people from history had hidden in a horse to fight a battle for a lady. And of course, i'd heard of Helen of Troy.
The battle turned out to be the Greeks against the trojuns..turks in the city of Troy and the smarty pants were the Greeks who built the horse as a gift for Athina..the daughter of the king..and they went into the city in the horse..and then popped out and killed all the trojuns and took over the city.
That's the simplified edition..you may want to read more about it in any myth and legend book or by doing a search..but the way momfasa told it, was so believable. But of course, he stressed it was legend.
He also told the story of the beautiful Helen of Troy as well.
And then..showed us the city of Troy. And you know, it IS there. And in seven layers...there are seven layers of cities so whenever a conquerer took over, they built over the city...it was a fascinating look at a very old civilisation. People say Troy's not worth visiting but after this tour, we'd say it IS worth it...
The things you learn.
We almost overlooked Troy when we were in Gallipoli, not knowing it was so close to go to...and we're glad we found out we could add it to our tour there...hence the staying over the night in Canakkale!
After our trip to Troy we went back to Anzac House and watched the movie Gallipoli with Mel Gibson in it...and yes, it was emotional, again. I searched through more archives of Grandpops and learned so much more about him...which i will write about in another post..
Arrived back to the Apricot hotel, from Gallipoli at midnight and were glad not to be staying in the room on the mosque side....the butcher side was quieter!
