Spent a restless night and got up at 5:15 to sit on the beach at Assos and watch the sun come up. I thought about swimming, but the water was rougher than last night - 4 of us - Louise, Jennifer, Abbey, and I - went swimming about 9:00 - the water was so still and even though it was nearly dark, we could see how clear the water was.
It was a nice sunrise - most of last night's storm clouds were gone. Like at home, clouds in the mountains, but no rain along the lowlands.
Headed to the ancient city of Troy - with 9 different levels of city structures dating back to about 3000 BC. It was interesting that as with Ephesus, the river beds have been drained to make more farmland and now neither "city" is remotely close to being a port city, though you can see where the ports used to be. The German excavators of Troy have done a great job of identifying the various layers of the city, even though at times they seem to almost "weave" through the town in random patterns! Troy was a city/town of about 20,000 at it's height, so it's layout and scale are much smaller than Ephesus, Sardis, or Pergamom, though it was a very wealthy city.
We then drove to Gallipoli, where we took a ferry across the Dardenelle Straits and saw some of the battle sites and cemetaries from the failed Anzac (British forces consisting of Brits, Irish, Indian, Australian, and New Zealand troops) attempts to invade Turkey and be able to move supplies up into southern Russia during the early years of WW I. It is a very mountainous and trecherous area - with all the advantage of position going to the Ottomans, who proved victorious after 6 months of fighting and a total loss of 70,000 lives. I was impressed that the graves of the Anzac fallen are well cared for and memorialized. After the war and after Turkey became independent, their attitude was that all the fallen are now brothers and should be treated with respect. I don't know that we would be so kind and gracious in America.....
The drive from Gallipoli to Istanbul took nearly 6 hours....tough riding for so long, and on a bus, only 1 stretch break...The scenery was lovely. Much of the ride was along the Marmara Sea coast which is not as mountainous as the Aegean coast. The blend of modern and old is still so evident. Watching grain being harvested by a combine and a few kilometers later, seeing bundles of thatched grain waiting to be picked up. Modern cattle feed lots and also a shepherd walking his sheep along a coastal side road. In one city area, our bus pulled up alongside a horse pulled cart waiting , like us, at a stop light.
We ate at a Circassian (Black Sea region) restaurant - different fare from the tradional Turkish, but quite nice. We ordered several different dishes and shared. Then back to the hotel for some (like me!) and sleep while others went out for some night life. We are about split on that fact. Not being a drinking person, I do better coming back and trying to get organized for the next day or so....plus trying to get some sleep! So, until tomorrow!
It was a nice sunrise - most of last night's storm clouds were gone. Like at home, clouds in the mountains, but no rain along the lowlands.
Headed to the ancient city of Troy - with 9 different levels of city structures dating back to about 3000 BC. It was interesting that as with Ephesus, the river beds have been drained to make more farmland and now neither "city" is remotely close to being a port city, though you can see where the ports used to be. The German excavators of Troy have done a great job of identifying the various layers of the city, even though at times they seem to almost "weave" through the town in random patterns! Troy was a city/town of about 20,000 at it's height, so it's layout and scale are much smaller than Ephesus, Sardis, or Pergamom, though it was a very wealthy city.
We then drove to Gallipoli, where we took a ferry across the Dardenelle Straits and saw some of the battle sites and cemetaries from the failed Anzac (British forces consisting of Brits, Irish, Indian, Australian, and New Zealand troops) attempts to invade Turkey and be able to move supplies up into southern Russia during the early years of WW I. It is a very mountainous and trecherous area - with all the advantage of position going to the Ottomans, who proved victorious after 6 months of fighting and a total loss of 70,000 lives. I was impressed that the graves of the Anzac fallen are well cared for and memorialized. After the war and after Turkey became independent, their attitude was that all the fallen are now brothers and should be treated with respect. I don't know that we would be so kind and gracious in America.....
The drive from Gallipoli to Istanbul took nearly 6 hours....tough riding for so long, and on a bus, only 1 stretch break...The scenery was lovely. Much of the ride was along the Marmara Sea coast which is not as mountainous as the Aegean coast. The blend of modern and old is still so evident. Watching grain being harvested by a combine and a few kilometers later, seeing bundles of thatched grain waiting to be picked up. Modern cattle feed lots and also a shepherd walking his sheep along a coastal side road. In one city area, our bus pulled up alongside a horse pulled cart waiting , like us, at a stop light.
We ate at a Circassian (Black Sea region) restaurant - different fare from the tradional Turkish, but quite nice. We ordered several different dishes and shared. Then back to the hotel for some (like me!) and sleep while others went out for some night life. We are about split on that fact. Not being a drinking person, I do better coming back and trying to get organized for the next day or so....plus trying to get some sleep! So, until tomorrow!
I am so envious, Green to be exact!!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't know the history like you do but I love differnet cultures and seeing how they live.
jj