Today was moving day - moving from the big city of 14 million to the much smaller city of 108,000. It seems to be a younger, trendier city because of the university there. Wherever you walk, night or day, you see the young people walking, talking, smoking, and enjoying each other's friendships. The first inhabitants of the city, which hosted many civilizations, lived 6000 years ago. However, very little is known about the identity and lifestyle of these early settlers. According to some excavations and research, the earliest settlements in the region were established at Kumtepe. The real history of Çanakkale started with Troy between 3500–3000 BC. (But we'll go there tomorrow!~)
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| Ferry to Canakkale |
We went by bus and then transferred onto a ferry which was fun as we crossed the Darnelles. We had intended to go to the Gallipoli fields, a very historical site from WWI, but it just didn't work out. It took about 6 hours by bus from Istanbul, and we were tired, so we just hung out with Ozgur, a high school psychology counselor, our next couch surfing host.
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| YUMMY Turkish Buffet |
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| Ozgur - All teachers must dress up for work |
He took us to his favorite Turkish buffet for dinner. It was very nice! We went on a walk by the waterfront and saw the Trojan Horse that was built for the movie "Troy", starring Brad Pitt. After the filming, they donated it to the city of Canakkale and it stands in the center of the waterfront. Very cool! And it WAS cool and breezy this evening by the sea.
Athene, goddess of war gave Ulysses the idea for a plan to end
the 10 year war between the warriors of Greece and the people of Troy. They built a big wooden horse which they put in the middle of
their encampment. Next they pretended to abandon their camp. In reality
many soldiers hid inside the wooden horse.
Once they thought the camp had been abandoned the Trojans went out to check. They needed to know if the war was really over. They walked through the abandoned encampment and eventually found the wooden horse. They couldn't decide what it was. Some wanted to take it into the city, others thought that it was a gift to Zeus and feared touching or moving it in case they upset Zeus. Some Trojans decided to take it back into the city. They called a large group of troops, attached ropes and pulled it into the city. A huge celebration started. The city was free from war for the first time in nine years. Everybody feasted, drank and danced until eventually the merriment was over and they all went to sleep.
This was the moment that the wooden horse opened a big flap hidden underneath. Out crept Ulysses and all of his men. They killed the sleeping troops, rescued Queen Helen, met up with the rest of their army and set sail for home. The story of the return journey is told in The Odyssey, a collection of poems piecing together the bits of the story from the many different places where the story took place.
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| Fresh Mussels anyone? |
All along the waterfront, you'll see certain things: fresh mussels with lemon, fresh fish (still wiggling), simi (like a pretzel), people sitting and drinking chai tea, and many people walking and talking.
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| Which one of these is named "Dopey?" mmm...... |
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| "Not sure there is room for you, too, Rich on this couch." (But of course, there was!) |
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| Shari poses with beautiful Spring flowers in front of the Clock Tower very close to Ozgur's home. |
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| A Mosque lit up beautifully at night |
Ozgur played some beautiful music on his mandolin/zither. Video clip will come later. It was a like a lullaby for us as we went to bed shortly afterwards.
DAY 7 - Our Visit to Troy
"The science of archaeology takes its start from Troia; the most ancient tale fof a city. It's now a site of peace and tranquility. Canakkale is a meeting point of different civilizations and cultures."
The layers of ruins in the citadel at Hisarlık are numbered Troy I – Troy IX, with various subdivisions:
- Troy I 3000–2600 BC
- Troy II 2600–2250 BC
- Troy III 2250–2100 BC
- Troy IV 2100–1950 BC
- Troy V: 20th–18th centuries BC
- Troy VI: 17th–15th centuries BC
- Troy VIh: late Bronze Age, 14th century BC
- Troy VIIa: c. 1300–1190 BC, most likely setting for Homer's story
- Troy VIIb1: 12th century BC
- Troy VIIb2: 11th century BC
- Troy VIIb3: until c. 950 BC
- Troy VIII: around 700 BC
- Troy IX: 1st century BC
We took MANY pictures - it was so exciting to be walking amongst the people of Homer's "Illiad" and Odyssey" and so many other historical people as well. After taking our excursion to Troy, we came back for a rest on our couch, then our host took us to the waterfront for some famous Canakkale fish. The dinner was FANTASTIC! We met one of his friends and after dinner we all went to a night club and listened to some good music - it sounded a bit like American light pop and rock.
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| Big Fish - "Cupsa" / Little Fish - "Mezgit" |
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| Which one looks better? Actually both were AMAZING! |
Ill take some mussels
ReplyDeleteI had never had any before. They were good!
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