Can You Say Çanakkale?

Friday September 27

Fun Facts About Turkey

• Tulips come from Amsterdam, right? Wrong. These pretty bulb-shaped blooms were introduced to the Netherlands by traders from Türkiye.

• Santa Claus is from Turkey: Saint Nicholas was born in Patara, Turkey, not the North Pole.

• Turkey has the youngest population in the European Union. The average age in Turkey is 31 and only 9% of the population is over 60.

Today we are docked in Çanakkale, Turkey. (Pronounced Sha-knock-a-lay). This city is on the coast of the Dardanelles Strait, southwest of Istanbul. This strait is the continuation of the boundary between the continent of Europe and the boundary of Asia that we experienced in Istanbul. Çanakkale is well known because it is the closest city to the location of the ancient city of Troy, which was the location of the battle between Sparta and Troy that ended with the creation and deployment of the Trojan Horse, as described by Homer in the "Illiad" and the "Odessey."

Our visit to the excavations of the ancient city of Troy was fascinating! The area has been extensively studied and excavated, partly because of the hunt for valuable treasure believed to be buried there!

Troy is located on a prominent bluff that used to be close to the sea. Because of its strategic location, as different groups of people took over the area, a new city was built directly on top of the last city, giving the excavation nine distinct levels, with 9 (IX) being the oldest ruins.

Shown here, from left to right - an explanation of the layers, the signs pointing to where different layers can be found in the excavations, and signs on a cliff face showing where ruins can be found from different time periods.

In the pictures below we included a few of the pictures we liked best from the many we took.

Layers seen in the different colors of the rocks making up the wall

Red color in the rocks may be the result of a fire in times long ago.

This shows the location of Troy. During the days of the war with Sparta the coastline was much closer, approximately where the white line crosses the patch of green grass.

Water well

Ruins of a temple

Roman baths (for men only)

Piece of a building with Greek writing

Ancient ampitheater

As you can see, we did find the Trojan Horse; however, it is a life size replica of the famous Trojan Horse. And, in the town of Çanakkale, there was another life size replica of the Trojan Horse which was used in Brad Pitt's movie, Troy, and later donated to the town.

After visiting Troy, we visited the downtown/harbor area of the city of Çanakkale, where we saw the "other" Trojan horse, from the movie, and had some time to walk around and shop. We were looking for a replacement battery for Karen's camera, but no luck. Where is a Best Buy when you need one?

And on another note - regarding the stray dogs and cats, we found out that the stray dogs that are tagged (on the ear) have been identified by the government and are given a veterinary check every year, and given any needed care and vaccinations. These dogs are all very sweet and very calm.

Tomorrow we dock in Kusadasi where we take an excursion to Ephesus....can't wait to see this famous site!