Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Needs An Eyepatch - A Dec TR Complete 8/31
- Thread starter Lifelong_Dreamer
- Start date
Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
April 17 2016
We had to wake up very early this morning as we had an early morning flight to catch. We were sad to be leaving Istanbul and our lovely hotel but we were also excited to see everything else this beautiful country had to offer.
We checked out of our hotel and asked the clerk to call us a taxi. The taxi arrived in less than a minute as it had been stationed just around the corner.
While on the way to the airport the driver's phone rang and it was our hotel. How on earth did they know what taxi we were in??? The clerk from the hotel was calling as he had forgotten to charge us for the airport private transfer they had arranged for us on our arrival day. I said that we would be back in a week and half and could I pay it then? He agreed to this and so things were all settled.
The rest of the ride was uneventful although I did miss the plush luxury of the private transfer we had taken on our arrival day.
It only took 20 minutes to get to the airport as there was no traffic as it was early and a Sunday. We experienced something new when we arrived at the airport. To even get into the airport you have to clear through Security. I wonder if it has always been like this or if it is a more recent measure due to the horrific airport bombing in Belgium.
We used a self check-in kiosk, dropped our bags at the Turkish Airlines desk and then cleared through another Security checkpoint to get to the gates.
After an hour of waiting we were boarded onto our flight and we were on our way to Izmir. Izmir is the second largest city in Turkey and is located on the Aegean Coast. The flight was just over an hour and was very comfortable, we were even served a meal! What a difference from North American airlines where you get a tiny pack of pretzels if you are lucky. This flight was only 100 turkish lira ($50 Canadian) and we got a sandwich, fruit, yogurt and a dessert. In Canada you pay $600 for a flight and get a pack of pretzels...
Once we landed in Izmir we made our way to the Avis counter to get our rental car for the next week. We opted to rent a GPS which was a wise investment as it came in very handy a few times.
Out to the garage to get our car and I was surprised. I had booked a compact sized car and what we got looked more like an SUV. It was very nice and was a comfortable ride. Usually I would be the driver but the car was a standard transmission as is the norm over there and so Dad was the driver and I was the navigator.
Leaving the airport was a bit of a hurdle, to get out of the parking garage you need to scan a card and nobody mentioned anything about this to us. So we are sitting at the gate trying to figure out what to do and people behind us are honking and we are getting very flustered. Of course, the attendant wasn't able to help us as he spoke no English. Finally we figured out that the card we needed to swipe was clipped to the drivers sun visor. What a relief!
I was still trying to get the GPS booted and programmed so at that moment we were relying on Google Maps for directions. Bad bad decision. Google maps told us to turn left to get to the highway so we did. Well, after a few minutes of driving along we came to the gates of some type of military installation and had to reverse the car and go back the other way. Sounds simple right? Nope! Dad could not figure out how to put the car into reverse. So there we were sitting at the gates to a military installation in a nondescript white rental car in a country on a high terror alert. The soldiers at the gate were yelling at us and motioning for us to back up. If only we could! We were getting really nervous, what were we going to do?! Stupid rental car, stupid standard transmission!
Two of the soldiers started making their way to us slowly with their guns in tow. We were really starting to get panicked. Luckily, once the soldiers got close enough they saw that it was just a bunch of dumb tourists. Again they motioned for us to back up and Dad showed them that he didn't know how. We were 100% relying on gestures here as our limited Turkish was of no help. Finally, one of the soldiers motioned for my Dad to get out of the car and he climbed in and turned the car around. He then showed my Dad the trick to getting the car into reverse. There was a little ring at the top of the gear shift and you had to push up on that. We were very grateful and booked it out of there as fast as we could. I'm sure the soldiers had a good laugh at our expense.
Luckily by that time the GPS had booted up and was giving us proper directions to get to the highway. Even though that whole situation stressed us out to the max at least we have a funny story to tell now!
It was smooth sailing after that and once on the highway we didn't even really need the GPS as all the highways signs were very clear. We had a three hour drive up the coast to get to our home for the next two nights, Assos.
Assos also known as Behramkale is a small village on the Northern Aegean coast. It has a long history dating back to the 10th century BC and was home to Aristotle for several years. The village now features an ancient temple as well as some ruins from the ancient city. We would be staying two nights in Assos and using it as a base to visit Troy and Pergamon.
We were booked into a small B&B, Assos Alarga, which ended up being our favourite hotel of the trip. It was absolutely charming and our hostess was so friendly and helpful.
When we arrived our hostess, Ece, was outside to greet us and took us directly to our room where she then left us to settle in.
The room was lovely and recently renovated.
Dad and Alek would have to share the main bed and I had a cot set up by the window.
View of the countryside from our window
Our private patio/courtyard
After settling in we made our way to the main building where we served fresh fruit smoothies and we got to meet the hotel puppy!
We adored this puppy, she was so sweet and friendly!
Ece asked us about our plans and provided us with any information that we needed. She had a very good library with books on local history which she loans out to guests. After chatting with her a bit we decided to go explore the village and see if the temple was open.
Strolling through the village it was very obvious we were the only tourists there. An old man started a conversation with me about our travels and said that he used to run the archeological site in town. We ended up drinking a cup of tea with him before Dad hustled us along in fear that this man was going to try and scam us in some way. We will never know if he was just a nice old man or if he was going to try and get us to buy something.
It was a bit of a climb up to the temple which as luck would have it was still open! But.... Alek had left his museum pass back in our room. So, we turned around and went back to get it. This only took about 10 minutes as the village is so small but it meant climbing back up the hill.
This cat was collecting the admission fees/swiping the museum passes.
The acropolis where the Temple of Athena was located had fantastic views of the countryside and the Aegean Sea with the Greek island of Lesbos in the distance.
On the hillside below the acropolis are the ruins of the ancient city. There is not much left but there is a theatre. We never went into the site but we did check out the theatre from the road the next day.
The Greeks sure knew how to pick the perfect locations for their temples!
This was Alek's first temple and it couldn't have been in a prettier location! I also loved that we pretty much had the place to ourselves. While we were there two other people showed up but they did not stay as long as we did. I could have sat up there for the rest of the evening soaking in the beauty that was around me but our stomachs disagreed with that plan.
Remains of the ancient city walls
This rooster was guarding the entrance to the temple. He was on high alert!
That was another thing about the village, there were chickens roaming around everywhere! I found it charming.
After we left the temple we stopped at one of the few restaurants in the village. They had a menu with English translations but none of the family that ran the restaurant spoke English. This wasn't a huge issue as we knew how to order what we wanted in Turkish. After we placed our order the owner of the restaurant came back a few minutes later with her cell phone and I could see on the screen that our hostess from the B&B was on the line??? How on earth did they know where we were staying or how did our hostess know where we were eating?? Well, turns out that our hostess is the only person in the village that speaks English and so when the villagers need help translating for tourists they call her. What a coincidence! Anyways, they had called her as they were unable to make the appetizer we ordered and wanted her help communicating this to us so that we could order something else. We ended up going with a suggestion from Ece and it was delicious! It was some sort of minced meat wrapped in grape leaves. While eating some village cats decided to pay us a visit. One of them was missing its leg and we felt so bad for it although it looked well taken care of. I slipped it a bit of my chicken while my Dad looked on disapprovingly.
After stuffing our bellies with the delicious food we strolled back to our hotel and settled in for the night.
We had to wake up very early this morning as we had an early morning flight to catch. We were sad to be leaving Istanbul and our lovely hotel but we were also excited to see everything else this beautiful country had to offer.
We checked out of our hotel and asked the clerk to call us a taxi. The taxi arrived in less than a minute as it had been stationed just around the corner.
While on the way to the airport the driver's phone rang and it was our hotel. How on earth did they know what taxi we were in??? The clerk from the hotel was calling as he had forgotten to charge us for the airport private transfer they had arranged for us on our arrival day. I said that we would be back in a week and half and could I pay it then? He agreed to this and so things were all settled.
The rest of the ride was uneventful although I did miss the plush luxury of the private transfer we had taken on our arrival day.
It only took 20 minutes to get to the airport as there was no traffic as it was early and a Sunday. We experienced something new when we arrived at the airport. To even get into the airport you have to clear through Security. I wonder if it has always been like this or if it is a more recent measure due to the horrific airport bombing in Belgium.
We used a self check-in kiosk, dropped our bags at the Turkish Airlines desk and then cleared through another Security checkpoint to get to the gates.
After an hour of waiting we were boarded onto our flight and we were on our way to Izmir. Izmir is the second largest city in Turkey and is located on the Aegean Coast. The flight was just over an hour and was very comfortable, we were even served a meal! What a difference from North American airlines where you get a tiny pack of pretzels if you are lucky. This flight was only 100 turkish lira ($50 Canadian) and we got a sandwich, fruit, yogurt and a dessert. In Canada you pay $600 for a flight and get a pack of pretzels...
Once we landed in Izmir we made our way to the Avis counter to get our rental car for the next week. We opted to rent a GPS which was a wise investment as it came in very handy a few times.
Out to the garage to get our car and I was surprised. I had booked a compact sized car and what we got looked more like an SUV. It was very nice and was a comfortable ride. Usually I would be the driver but the car was a standard transmission as is the norm over there and so Dad was the driver and I was the navigator.
Leaving the airport was a bit of a hurdle, to get out of the parking garage you need to scan a card and nobody mentioned anything about this to us. So we are sitting at the gate trying to figure out what to do and people behind us are honking and we are getting very flustered. Of course, the attendant wasn't able to help us as he spoke no English. Finally we figured out that the card we needed to swipe was clipped to the drivers sun visor. What a relief!
I was still trying to get the GPS booted and programmed so at that moment we were relying on Google Maps for directions. Bad bad decision. Google maps told us to turn left to get to the highway so we did. Well, after a few minutes of driving along we came to the gates of some type of military installation and had to reverse the car and go back the other way. Sounds simple right? Nope! Dad could not figure out how to put the car into reverse. So there we were sitting at the gates to a military installation in a nondescript white rental car in a country on a high terror alert. The soldiers at the gate were yelling at us and motioning for us to back up. If only we could! We were getting really nervous, what were we going to do?! Stupid rental car, stupid standard transmission!
Two of the soldiers started making their way to us slowly with their guns in tow. We were really starting to get panicked. Luckily, once the soldiers got close enough they saw that it was just a bunch of dumb tourists. Again they motioned for us to back up and Dad showed them that he didn't know how. We were 100% relying on gestures here as our limited Turkish was of no help. Finally, one of the soldiers motioned for my Dad to get out of the car and he climbed in and turned the car around. He then showed my Dad the trick to getting the car into reverse. There was a little ring at the top of the gear shift and you had to push up on that. We were very grateful and booked it out of there as fast as we could. I'm sure the soldiers had a good laugh at our expense.
Luckily by that time the GPS had booted up and was giving us proper directions to get to the highway. Even though that whole situation stressed us out to the max at least we have a funny story to tell now!
It was smooth sailing after that and once on the highway we didn't even really need the GPS as all the highways signs were very clear. We had a three hour drive up the coast to get to our home for the next two nights, Assos.
Assos also known as Behramkale is a small village on the Northern Aegean coast. It has a long history dating back to the 10th century BC and was home to Aristotle for several years. The village now features an ancient temple as well as some ruins from the ancient city. We would be staying two nights in Assos and using it as a base to visit Troy and Pergamon.
We were booked into a small B&B, Assos Alarga, which ended up being our favourite hotel of the trip. It was absolutely charming and our hostess was so friendly and helpful.
When we arrived our hostess, Ece, was outside to greet us and took us directly to our room where she then left us to settle in.
The room was lovely and recently renovated.
Dad and Alek would have to share the main bed and I had a cot set up by the window.
View of the countryside from our window
Our private patio/courtyard
After settling in we made our way to the main building where we served fresh fruit smoothies and we got to meet the hotel puppy!
We adored this puppy, she was so sweet and friendly!
Ece asked us about our plans and provided us with any information that we needed. She had a very good library with books on local history which she loans out to guests. After chatting with her a bit we decided to go explore the village and see if the temple was open.
Strolling through the village it was very obvious we were the only tourists there. An old man started a conversation with me about our travels and said that he used to run the archeological site in town. We ended up drinking a cup of tea with him before Dad hustled us along in fear that this man was going to try and scam us in some way. We will never know if he was just a nice old man or if he was going to try and get us to buy something.
It was a bit of a climb up to the temple which as luck would have it was still open! But.... Alek had left his museum pass back in our room. So, we turned around and went back to get it. This only took about 10 minutes as the village is so small but it meant climbing back up the hill.
This cat was collecting the admission fees/swiping the museum passes.
The acropolis where the Temple of Athena was located had fantastic views of the countryside and the Aegean Sea with the Greek island of Lesbos in the distance.
On the hillside below the acropolis are the ruins of the ancient city. There is not much left but there is a theatre. We never went into the site but we did check out the theatre from the road the next day.
The Greeks sure knew how to pick the perfect locations for their temples!
This was Alek's first temple and it couldn't have been in a prettier location! I also loved that we pretty much had the place to ourselves. While we were there two other people showed up but they did not stay as long as we did. I could have sat up there for the rest of the evening soaking in the beauty that was around me but our stomachs disagreed with that plan.
Remains of the ancient city walls
This rooster was guarding the entrance to the temple. He was on high alert!
That was another thing about the village, there were chickens roaming around everywhere! I found it charming.
After we left the temple we stopped at one of the few restaurants in the village. They had a menu with English translations but none of the family that ran the restaurant spoke English. This wasn't a huge issue as we knew how to order what we wanted in Turkish. After we placed our order the owner of the restaurant came back a few minutes later with her cell phone and I could see on the screen that our hostess from the B&B was on the line??? How on earth did they know where we were staying or how did our hostess know where we were eating?? Well, turns out that our hostess is the only person in the village that speaks English and so when the villagers need help translating for tourists they call her. What a coincidence! Anyways, they had called her as they were unable to make the appetizer we ordered and wanted her help communicating this to us so that we could order something else. We ended up going with a suggestion from Ece and it was delicious! It was some sort of minced meat wrapped in grape leaves. While eating some village cats decided to pay us a visit. One of them was missing its leg and we felt so bad for it although it looked well taken care of. I slipped it a bit of my chicken while my Dad looked on disapprovingly.
After stuffing our bellies with the delicious food we strolled back to our hotel and settled in for the night.
englishrose47
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2007
Sounds so peaceful there . I love the rugged views ,when I was in Yugoslavia we saw similar views . It was very rugged there too !! How embarrassing with the Stick drive !! I bet those soldiers are still telling that tale !!!
Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
It really was peaceful. I loved that whole area of the country.
hokieinpa
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2014
Toy Story Midway Mania is one of my favorite rides too! And I'm actually halfway decent at it unlike Buzz! Love the pictures from One Man's Dream. I got to briefly breeze through last November but I hope it's still open in October so I can spend more time there! Beauty and the Beast is on my list to see in October too!
Such a hectic arrival day! You guys must have been so scared getting turned around and having car issues at just about the worst spot possible! Glad it all turned out ok in the end!
The B&B looks so peaceful and beautiful! Love the shots of the amazing scenery from the temple!
Such a hectic arrival day! You guys must have been so scared getting turned around and having car issues at just about the worst spot possible! Glad it all turned out ok in the end!
The B&B looks so peaceful and beautiful! Love the shots of the amazing scenery from the temple!
TayjaDanger
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2011
Late in the game but really enjoying this TR-- it has kept me busy for a few hours while I put off going into work today, heheh! Also loving the interludes from your time in Turkey-- I had no idea how lovely it is there, from all the dry photos I studied in Art History classes. Now it's making me rethink things a little! Gorgeous photos and compelling writing!
Your goofy bros are hilarious, and I love how you and your mom just handle it with so much grace. I was a few pages into your TR when I realized I'd read a few of your older ones years ago when I was planning for my last trip-- and I enjoyed them too.
HOWEVER, I was particularly moved by your reference to The Chipmunk Adventure! That was my favorite movie for a while as a kid and made my mom rent it for me every time we went to the video store. I'm not sure I ever owned it, but I'd watch it repeatedly until it was time to return. Those songs! Ack, I'm tearing up at the memory! Thank you so much for the blast from the past that moved me out of "lurker" mode! Can't wait to read more!
Your goofy bros are hilarious, and I love how you and your mom just handle it with so much grace. I was a few pages into your TR when I realized I'd read a few of your older ones years ago when I was planning for my last trip-- and I enjoyed them too.
HOWEVER, I was particularly moved by your reference to The Chipmunk Adventure! That was my favorite movie for a while as a kid and made my mom rent it for me every time we went to the video store. I'm not sure I ever owned it, but I'd watch it repeatedly until it was time to return. Those songs! Ack, I'm tearing up at the memory! Thank you so much for the blast from the past that moved me out of "lurker" mode! Can't wait to read more!
DisneyJo
Missing my tags!
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2006
OMG how funny yet scary your car story is, over here near enough all our cars are manual/stick but the reverse is so different on each car. One of my cars is push down to upper left and the other is pull up to bottom right so I often mix them up I'm glad the Turkish saw the funny side as that could have got dicey!!
I'm glad the Turkish saw the funny side as that could have got dicey!!DonnaBeeGood
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2014
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Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
I enjoy Buzz but Toy Story is the better ride, i just wish I was better at it! I still have fun though!
Yes, we were definitely very nervous. Could have gone without that stress!
We loved the B&B, a little piece of heaven and the temple was so peaceful.
Turkey was a wonderful country! I really hope that things cool down over there so that more people will want to visit it again.
It was one of our favs as well, we watched it so often growing up. Your rental story is funny because we did the same thing with The Swan Princess. I'm glad that you came out of lurker mode! I love to hear from people reading along.
Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
We were very lucky to experience these places with so few tourists. On the other hand we really felt for the locals whose livelihoods are really hurting from the extreme drop in tourism.
OMG how funny yet scary your car story is, over here near enough all our cars are manual/stick but the reverse is so different on each car. One of my cars is push down to upper left and the other is pull up to bottom right so I often mix them up
Yep, we knew going in that the car would be a manual which is why Dad was driving as he has driven manuals all his life. Just not one with that type of reverse! 
I wonder why they are all so different? Why not just make them reverse the same way???Ece was awesome. She gave great advise and kept in touch with us throughout our whole trip.
How does one get locked in a park? Was it gated?
Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
April 18 2016 - Troy
We woke up fairly early this morning and so we took the opportunity to Skype with Erich who was 10 hours behind us in British Columbia. We filled him in on all the fun and scary moments of the trip so far and then we made our way to breakfast. We witnessed this peaceful scene from our patio when we left our room that morning.
I loved seeing the sheep wandering down the road, so quaint!
Ece had set the breakfast table for us in the common room as it was slightly windy outside. Breakfast was delicious! The best of the trip! Yummy fruit, bread with unique spreads and cheeses. Lots of variety and all very fresh. I also enjoyed exploring the beautiful courtyard and playing with the puppy.
While we ate we chatted with Ece about our plans for the day. We were going to drive an hour north to visit Troy and then had the rest of the day to explore the surrounding area. We figured we would drive along the coast and visit some more ruins and take in the scenery. Ece recommended a couple restaurants we might want to stop off at for seafood. I am not a seafood fan but Dad and Alek wanted to try it out.
it was an easy drive and we encountered no traffic and got to see some beautiful countryside.
Donkey crossing!
When we arrived at Troy there were only two other cars there and I'm pretty sure that they belonged to employees as the only other people we saw visiting Troy while we were there were members of a small tour group that zipped quickly through the site. Yet another example of the struggling tourism industry in Turkey.
We were excited to explore the ruins of this ancient and famous city. A city that has existed in the imaginations of many for centuries and for much of that time thought to be a myth. We were ready to walk in the footsteps of Aeneas, Odysseus, Achilles, Hector and Paris and visit Priam's city!
Of course, at the entrance to the archeological site is the "Trojan Horse".
In the nearby city of Canakkale there is another Trojan Horse, that one is the set piece from the movie Troy staring Brad Pitt.
This site actually consists of several cities that were built on the same site dating as far back as 3000BC. When you walk through the site the remains are labelled as to which "Troy" they belonged to. The layer of city thought to be associated with Homer's Trojan War is either Troy VI or Troy VII. Troy VI shows signs of having been destroyed by an earthquake and Troy VII show signs of destruction by warfare or natural disaster.
History buffs such as myself will find this plaque hilarious and accurate.
Ruins of the walls of Troy VII
These lovely red poppies were growing all over the site.
This section of the site dates back to the earliest version of the city. We didn't linger near these for too long as so many wasps had built nests in the wall. It was actually rather sad as they were destroying the walls by burrowing into them.
Heinrich Schliemann is credited with the discovery of Troy but Englishman Frank Calvert was the one who identified and initially began excavating on the site. Schliemann took over from him and was the one who discovered the city layers and "Priam's Treasure".
This is a famous photograph of Schiemann's wife wearing the gold "jewels of Helen".
These treasures were originally in the Berlin Museum and are now in Russia after being confiscated in WWII. It is actually thought that these treasures are not from Homer's Troy but date to an earlier version of the city. Of course, people prefer to romanticize history and attribute them to the city of the Trojan War.
Schliemann's methods back in the 1800's were unskilled and ended up destroying much of the archeological remains. He basically dug a huge trench through layers of city ruins trying to find "treasure". And here is his infamous ditch:
Luckily archeological excavations have greatly evolved since then and are tightly controlled and methodical to preserve what is uncovered.
This ramp leads to a citadel believed to date back to Troy II.
It was easy to imagine a grand procession of soldiers marching up that ramp to an ancient citadel.
Next we visited the water cave which is located below the city. It was easy to imagine Aeneas carrying his father escaping the burning city through this cave while accompanied by his fellow Trojans.
We ended our explorations in the most "modern" area of the city dating to the Roman era under Augustus.
A small theatre
This sweet kitty was lounging in the shade of the ruins. I called her Helen of Troy...
It was sweltering at this point so we stopped into the air conditioned gift shop for a few moments and I purchased some fresh and cool lemonade.
We made our way back to the car which was now almost unbearable to get into after sitting in the hot sun but we had to do it so we blasted the air conditioning and quickly cooled the car down.
We were off to our next destination!
We woke up fairly early this morning and so we took the opportunity to Skype with Erich who was 10 hours behind us in British Columbia. We filled him in on all the fun and scary moments of the trip so far and then we made our way to breakfast. We witnessed this peaceful scene from our patio when we left our room that morning.
I loved seeing the sheep wandering down the road, so quaint!
Ece had set the breakfast table for us in the common room as it was slightly windy outside. Breakfast was delicious! The best of the trip! Yummy fruit, bread with unique spreads and cheeses. Lots of variety and all very fresh. I also enjoyed exploring the beautiful courtyard and playing with the puppy.
While we ate we chatted with Ece about our plans for the day. We were going to drive an hour north to visit Troy and then had the rest of the day to explore the surrounding area. We figured we would drive along the coast and visit some more ruins and take in the scenery. Ece recommended a couple restaurants we might want to stop off at for seafood. I am not a seafood fan but Dad and Alek wanted to try it out.
it was an easy drive and we encountered no traffic and got to see some beautiful countryside.
Donkey crossing!
When we arrived at Troy there were only two other cars there and I'm pretty sure that they belonged to employees as the only other people we saw visiting Troy while we were there were members of a small tour group that zipped quickly through the site. Yet another example of the struggling tourism industry in Turkey.
We were excited to explore the ruins of this ancient and famous city. A city that has existed in the imaginations of many for centuries and for much of that time thought to be a myth. We were ready to walk in the footsteps of Aeneas, Odysseus, Achilles, Hector and Paris and visit Priam's city!
Of course, at the entrance to the archeological site is the "Trojan Horse".
In the nearby city of Canakkale there is another Trojan Horse, that one is the set piece from the movie Troy staring Brad Pitt.
This site actually consists of several cities that were built on the same site dating as far back as 3000BC. When you walk through the site the remains are labelled as to which "Troy" they belonged to. The layer of city thought to be associated with Homer's Trojan War is either Troy VI or Troy VII. Troy VI shows signs of having been destroyed by an earthquake and Troy VII show signs of destruction by warfare or natural disaster.
History buffs such as myself will find this plaque hilarious and accurate.
Ruins of the walls of Troy VII
These lovely red poppies were growing all over the site.
This section of the site dates back to the earliest version of the city. We didn't linger near these for too long as so many wasps had built nests in the wall. It was actually rather sad as they were destroying the walls by burrowing into them.
Heinrich Schliemann is credited with the discovery of Troy but Englishman Frank Calvert was the one who identified and initially began excavating on the site. Schliemann took over from him and was the one who discovered the city layers and "Priam's Treasure".
This is a famous photograph of Schiemann's wife wearing the gold "jewels of Helen".
These treasures were originally in the Berlin Museum and are now in Russia after being confiscated in WWII. It is actually thought that these treasures are not from Homer's Troy but date to an earlier version of the city. Of course, people prefer to romanticize history and attribute them to the city of the Trojan War.
Schliemann's methods back in the 1800's were unskilled and ended up destroying much of the archeological remains. He basically dug a huge trench through layers of city ruins trying to find "treasure". And here is his infamous ditch:
Luckily archeological excavations have greatly evolved since then and are tightly controlled and methodical to preserve what is uncovered.
This ramp leads to a citadel believed to date back to Troy II.
It was easy to imagine a grand procession of soldiers marching up that ramp to an ancient citadel.
Next we visited the water cave which is located below the city. It was easy to imagine Aeneas carrying his father escaping the burning city through this cave while accompanied by his fellow Trojans.
We ended our explorations in the most "modern" area of the city dating to the Roman era under Augustus.
A small theatre
This sweet kitty was lounging in the shade of the ruins. I called her Helen of Troy...
It was sweltering at this point so we stopped into the air conditioned gift shop for a few moments and I purchased some fresh and cool lemonade.
We made our way back to the car which was now almost unbearable to get into after sitting in the hot sun but we had to do it so we blasted the air conditioning and quickly cooled the car down.
We were off to our next destination!
Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
We drove for about an hour on windy roads through the countryside and along the coast until we arrived at another archeological site, this one belonging to the ancient city of Alexandria Troas. This city dates back to the times of Alexander the Great and was named in his honour. Not much remains of the site and it is no longer maintained. Needless to say that we were the only people there. We parked our car near the site of an old temple and the forum.
This was part of the temple and was still mostly intact. It was protected by a shelter and gated off to prevent people from damaging it. I was surprised it was not in a museum.
There was a sign pointing us in the direction of the theatre so we decided to try and find it. We walked and walked and walked through grassy fields and olive tree groves but we never found the theatre...
We gave up on finding the theatre and went back to where we started. We then walked down the road in search of the ruins of the Baths of Herodotus.
As we were walking I spotted a snake in the road and started freaking out! Then I realized it was dead.
Scary looking snake!
After about ten minutes of walking we saw a sign on the side of the road for the baths and next to it was a faint path through a very overgrown area. We beat our way through the bushes hoping we were going the right way and I couldn't stop picturing more of those snakes being in the bushes! EEK!
We did find the ruins and I thought the overgrown and unmaintained nature of the place added to the atmosphere.
Dad fell while clambering around the ruins
We then walked back to the car in the heat and when we got there Dad said "Hey guys, remember when I fell? I dropped the keys..." I just about lost it as it was so hot and I just wanted the air conditioning and the water which was in the car. Then he laughed and said he was just joking. I was ticked!
Next we drove about 30 minutes to the Sanctuary of Apollo Smintheon. This temple and sanctuary was a site of ancient healing and was connected by a sacred road to the city of Alexandria Troas.
After the temple we decided to drive down to the small coastal village Ece had recommended to try a seafood restaurant there.
The village we stopped in was Babakale. Even though I was not enthused about the idea of the seafood there was a fort there with some great views so it was worth the stop for me.
View from the fort of the coastline
When we went to the restaurant we were the only people there and had to stumble our way through ordering in our limited Turkish. Dad and Alek shared a plate of calamari and octopus. I ate bread...
It was time to make our way back to Assos afterwards. It was a lovely scenic drive along the coast through little hilltop villages.
Back in Assos we stopped to check out the Ottoman Bridge where I ended up falling, luckily I did not damage my camera.
Since we would be leaving in the morning we decided to take the opportunity to drive down to the harbour to see the ruins and check out the harbour front.
This is the theatre of Assos with the acropolis and temple high above
We walked around the harbour for a few minutes. The lighting wasn't great for pictures but I had to take a picture of this boat that was sinking. Why weren't they doing anything about this?
We stopped at a restaurant so that I could eat a proper meal and Dad and Alek shared an appetizer since they were still mostly full from their mid afternoon seafood meal.
When we arrived back at the B&B we saw the puppy up on the wall keeping a lookout for us. Such a cute puppy!
Back in the room we opened the glass bottle of water that Ece had left for us and drained it. I then proceeded to knock it off the table and it shattered everywhere. I felt so bad! I went and told Ece what happened and she cleaned it up quickly and told me not to worry about it and that in her culture breaking an object brought good luck.
Dad decided that since I am a klutz that he was going to move the beautiful blue glass cups that were on the table near me to the bedside table next to Alek. Well... Alek had some night terrors that night and in his sleep threw his pillow off the bed hitting the table knocking it to the ground shattering the glass... It woke us all up and scared us mightily! We regretted having to tell Ece in the morning that we broke something else...
Glass cleaned up we went back to sleep.
This was part of the temple and was still mostly intact. It was protected by a shelter and gated off to prevent people from damaging it. I was surprised it was not in a museum.
There was a sign pointing us in the direction of the theatre so we decided to try and find it. We walked and walked and walked through grassy fields and olive tree groves but we never found the theatre...
We gave up on finding the theatre and went back to where we started. We then walked down the road in search of the ruins of the Baths of Herodotus.
As we were walking I spotted a snake in the road and started freaking out! Then I realized it was dead.
Scary looking snake!
After about ten minutes of walking we saw a sign on the side of the road for the baths and next to it was a faint path through a very overgrown area. We beat our way through the bushes hoping we were going the right way and I couldn't stop picturing more of those snakes being in the bushes! EEK!
We did find the ruins and I thought the overgrown and unmaintained nature of the place added to the atmosphere.
Dad fell while clambering around the ruins
We then walked back to the car in the heat and when we got there Dad said "Hey guys, remember when I fell? I dropped the keys..." I just about lost it as it was so hot and I just wanted the air conditioning and the water which was in the car. Then he laughed and said he was just joking. I was ticked!
Next we drove about 30 minutes to the Sanctuary of Apollo Smintheon. This temple and sanctuary was a site of ancient healing and was connected by a sacred road to the city of Alexandria Troas.
After the temple we decided to drive down to the small coastal village Ece had recommended to try a seafood restaurant there.
The village we stopped in was Babakale. Even though I was not enthused about the idea of the seafood there was a fort there with some great views so it was worth the stop for me.
View from the fort of the coastline
When we went to the restaurant we were the only people there and had to stumble our way through ordering in our limited Turkish. Dad and Alek shared a plate of calamari and octopus. I ate bread...
It was time to make our way back to Assos afterwards. It was a lovely scenic drive along the coast through little hilltop villages.
Back in Assos we stopped to check out the Ottoman Bridge where I ended up falling, luckily I did not damage my camera.
Since we would be leaving in the morning we decided to take the opportunity to drive down to the harbour to see the ruins and check out the harbour front.
This is the theatre of Assos with the acropolis and temple high above
We walked around the harbour for a few minutes. The lighting wasn't great for pictures but I had to take a picture of this boat that was sinking. Why weren't they doing anything about this?
We stopped at a restaurant so that I could eat a proper meal and Dad and Alek shared an appetizer since they were still mostly full from their mid afternoon seafood meal.
When we arrived back at the B&B we saw the puppy up on the wall keeping a lookout for us. Such a cute puppy!
Back in the room we opened the glass bottle of water that Ece had left for us and drained it. I then proceeded to knock it off the table and it shattered everywhere. I felt so bad! I went and told Ece what happened and she cleaned it up quickly and told me not to worry about it and that in her culture breaking an object brought good luck.
Dad decided that since I am a klutz that he was going to move the beautiful blue glass cups that were on the table near me to the bedside table next to Alek. Well... Alek had some night terrors that night and in his sleep threw his pillow off the bed hitting the table knocking it to the ground shattering the glass... It woke us all up and scared us mightily! We regretted having to tell Ece in the morning that we broke something else...
Glass cleaned up we went back to sleep.
englishrose47
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2007
Wow what a history lesson!! I have to admit I knew little of it other than Helen of Troy and the Wooden horse
tazdev3225
<font color=darkorchid>I sucked my thumb up with t
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2008
The pictures of Turkey are amazing. The cute puppy looks like my grand-puppy. Turkey looks like an amazing place to visit and I love anything that has a coast line involved. I have to say that snake was very scary looking. They are one of the few things that make me one and scream. My oldest brother had a pet snake and he thought it was great fun to chase me around the house with it. I haven't liked them since then. Truthfully I never liked them.
DonnaBeeGood
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2014
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Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
No shame in that, that is all that most know about it. I only know so much about it as I studied Classical History in university and I am a huge history nerd.
We adored that puppy. I loved that pretty much all the hotels we stayed at had pets.
That sounds traumatizing and the stuff of nightmares. Growing up I had a friend that had a pet snake. I refused to have sleepovers at her house as I was too afraid to sleep with a snake nearby so the slumber parties were always at my house.
Oh dear!
You will appreciate a story we have later on...It does make you wonder what we have lost through time. I abhor the willful destruction of ancient monuments as has happened in the Middle East. Monuments that survived for thousands of years and then blown up by terrorists. Sickening.
Poor Ece's ordeals with our family were unfortunately not at an end with the glass breaking...
I told him that I refused to walk back there for the keys and that I would be waiting in the shade of the trees. That is when he pulled the keys out! Jerk!
Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
After Beauty and the Beast let out we went to grab a quick dinner before the big event of the night, the Osborne Lights!
We got dinner from the Backlot Express. I know it doesn't get great reviews but the food tasted the same as everywhere else.
The others got items such as burgers and chicken nuggets while I got their dressed up fries (forget the name but they had a bunch of spices etc on them) as I was not terribly hungry.
Afterwards we joined the hordes of people headed to the Osborne Lights. The crowd level was insane! I had expected it to be busy based on reports that I had read during the week we were there but reading about it and experiencing it are two different things. I think it took 30 minutes of slow shuffling before we were even able to reach the beginning of the lights. Once there it was just as packed as you will see in the pictures and video. I enjoyed the lights but they would have been MUCH more enjoyable if it hadn't been wall to wall people. We were constantly having to check that we were staying together as there was no way we would find each other if we got separated. We also didn't spent as much time exploring and looking for the small details as I would have liked as the crowd was so overwhelming! That being said I did in general enjoy the display and I am sad that they are gone now but I wish the crowd level had been a little more controlled...
I had been hoping to get a photopass photo but the lines for the photographers were absolutely insane and we would have been waiting all night so we had to give that a pass.
This first video is where we entered the lights and features Erich trying to mess with the video
This video has the lights dancing to Feliz Navidad and a snippet of Alek and Erich
This video is under the "canopy of lights" as I called them and is more peaceful to the tune of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
And one final video of the giant tree and main drag dancing
Once we escaped from the crowds of the lights we felt a lot better, not so anxious. Funny how being in a huge crowd like that can make you feel anxious just from being so closely packed together.
We wandered back through the park and found a Holiday character dance party by the main stage
We didn't stop though as we wanted to get to the Fantasmic theatre and get in line for the second show.
We got good seats in the middle of the theatre in one of the back rows.
Fantasmic is my favourite nighttime show after Wishes and I try to see it on every trip. I only took a few pictures and none of them really turned out, oh well!
After the show let out we stopped for some photopass photos and found out the park hours had been extended by an hour.
We didn't really feel like staying any longer though so we wandered through the shops on our way out of the park and called it a night.
We were lucky and a bus pulled up as we arrived in line so we were quickly back to the hotel. The boys and I went down to the gift shop to pick up the purchases we had sent to the hotel on the previous two days. We had to be sneaky as most of those purchases were gifts for Mom. She never had a clue which is lucky as one of the gifts was bath bombs from Basin so it is surprising she couldn't smell them in the room.
It was then time to head to bed. We had to check out in the morning but we still had a few items on the itinerary on our departure day: Epcot and Beaches and Cream!
We got dinner from the Backlot Express. I know it doesn't get great reviews but the food tasted the same as everywhere else.
The others got items such as burgers and chicken nuggets while I got their dressed up fries (forget the name but they had a bunch of spices etc on them) as I was not terribly hungry.Afterwards we joined the hordes of people headed to the Osborne Lights. The crowd level was insane! I had expected it to be busy based on reports that I had read during the week we were there but reading about it and experiencing it are two different things. I think it took 30 minutes of slow shuffling before we were even able to reach the beginning of the lights. Once there it was just as packed as you will see in the pictures and video. I enjoyed the lights but they would have been MUCH more enjoyable if it hadn't been wall to wall people. We were constantly having to check that we were staying together as there was no way we would find each other if we got separated. We also didn't spent as much time exploring and looking for the small details as I would have liked as the crowd was so overwhelming! That being said I did in general enjoy the display and I am sad that they are gone now but I wish the crowd level had been a little more controlled...
I had been hoping to get a photopass photo but the lines for the photographers were absolutely insane and we would have been waiting all night so we had to give that a pass.
This first video is where we entered the lights and features Erich trying to mess with the video
This video has the lights dancing to Feliz Navidad and a snippet of Alek and Erich
This video is under the "canopy of lights" as I called them and is more peaceful to the tune of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
And one final video of the giant tree and main drag dancing
Once we escaped from the crowds of the lights we felt a lot better, not so anxious. Funny how being in a huge crowd like that can make you feel anxious just from being so closely packed together.
We wandered back through the park and found a Holiday character dance party by the main stage
We didn't stop though as we wanted to get to the Fantasmic theatre and get in line for the second show.
We got good seats in the middle of the theatre in one of the back rows.
Fantasmic is my favourite nighttime show after Wishes and I try to see it on every trip. I only took a few pictures and none of them really turned out, oh well!
After the show let out we stopped for some photopass photos and found out the park hours had been extended by an hour.
We didn't really feel like staying any longer though so we wandered through the shops on our way out of the park and called it a night.
We were lucky and a bus pulled up as we arrived in line so we were quickly back to the hotel. The boys and I went down to the gift shop to pick up the purchases we had sent to the hotel on the previous two days. We had to be sneaky as most of those purchases were gifts for Mom. She never had a clue which is lucky as one of the gifts was bath bombs from Basin so it is surprising she couldn't smell them in the room.
It was then time to head to bed. We had to check out in the morning but we still had a few items on the itinerary on our departure day: Epcot and Beaches and Cream!
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