30/1/25
We didn’t really want to get out of bed in the morning. Still, we got out at 8am anyway. Mostly because we wondered what they’d be serving us for the included breakfast. As we went outside we found our clothes to have mostly dried in the wind.
Using our phone we asked for something without meat, milk or egg and the two women discussed and then delivered us potato gozleme. It’s an unleavened flatbread with a filling. It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It was delicious to have even more hot food. It came with some tomato, cucumber and of course olives. They’d also presented us with some bread, jam and honey. Neither of us felt like we could stomach jam yet. So sliding further down the slippery slope, we tucked into some honey instead.
We checked out but left the bikes in the restaurant at their grace. Troy was about 500m away down a straight road. We were somewhat apprehensive about what we’d see but we were committed. Troy is actually not one city but nine. Each time period is referred to by Roman numerals, and the site has been occupied for thousands of years. Only one Troy is Homeric Troy. Thought to be Troy VI or maybe VII, or maybe VIIb. Yep, they don’t know. They’re not even that sure that this site is Troy!
A boardwalk led us around the site. We appreciated the mostly linear nature of the tour. We felt like we knew where to go and what we could see. Wandering around off piste can be exciting but only once you know what you’re looking for. With half a million people coming every year, they need a boardwalk.
We shouldn’t have been apprehensive. This was an incredible site with many features having been discovered over the years. The walls, odeon, and sanctuary were notable. On top of the nine physical layers of Troy, there was a tenth veneer of interest. The excavation and discovery of the city itself was shrouded in controversy.
The original excavation was carried out by a guy called Schliemann. He essentially tried to buy the land on the cheap to take advantage of the law allowing him to keep all the finds, then when that plan failed, he smuggled out a huge load of gold from the time of Troy II, which he thought was Homers Troy.
He called it ‘Priam’s Treasure’ (Priam was a king) but he’d got the time period wrong by about 1250 years. The gold ended up going from the UK (of course) to Germany, where they tried to hide it under Berlin Zoo from the soviets. It ended up in Russia, and is still in the Pushkin museum, but hilariously, the Germans want it back. Worst of all, Schliemann devastated the site with his huge trench. It’s been joked that he destroyed the walls which the Greeks couldn’t.
After climbing into the giant wooden Trojan horse like children, we headed out of the archaeological site to the museum. It’s a giant brown coloured cube, just off the main road. It was completed in 2018 and has some architectural interest. It was designed to reflect Troy without interfering with the site itself. Very fancy and with multiple layers, just like Troy.
We were feeling even more tired now, and queried whether we’d caught yet another bug. We explored the whole museum with as much vigour as we could though. There were many interesting objects and finds. Recovered statues and items that indicated the different cities and peoples that had occupied the site. The trades they carried out and how they lived. Eventually the downfall of Troy came about, apparently the leading theory is that destruction was brought about by the Sea Peoples.
The top floor, explained that this museum, just like the Acropolis museum, is dedicated to bringing back all the stolen artefacts scattered across the world. It even had a digital display of each and every one and where it currently was. Brilliant. We tried to go on the terrace, but it was shut. Probably because it was bloody windy.
We went down the elevator, and back to the hotel to find our bikes. While packing up we had an interesting chat with whom we presume was the owners (who was a friendly old man sitting next to him) son. He told us that the Europeans don’t come since the pandemic. Especially the Germans, who don’t like the president. He didn’t like the president either but couldn’t understand why Germans thought their protest should punish the people. We don’t understand either.
We rode off into the wind on the smooth wide road, but soon turned willingly north on a bumpier road. After a little descent we reached a small village called Halileli. We were keen for some coffee, our excellent breakfast tainted by the fact we were denied coffee as it would cost extra. Ridiculous.
We stopped at a ‘male club’ where we could only get instant. Oh well. We would have to tolerate it. We didn’t specify no milk, so we had to apologise and ask for it again. Luckily a friendly Turk, who spoke reasonable English assisted us. He then sat with us while we drank. As we finished our conversation, where he’d explained he had several studying children with a Filipino wife, he went to play cards. We went back to cycling.
We went up a deceptively steep hill, that led to a beautiful vista of the sea and coast. The road then followed the edge of the Dardanelles Strait. It wasn’t very hilly and we were glad for it as we felt really tired. It continued to be very pretty and we stopped to enjoy the view for a few minutes.
We had found another hotel to stay at but were still considering camping. We found an excellent place to camp and deliberated the pros and cons for a while. It felt bad not to camp when the opportunity presented itself but the hotel the night before had been a bit of a let down and we felt robbed of the relaxation we’d wanted. We gave ourselves a break and took the road to the hotel.
We had to earn the comfort by going up a steep incline to the accommodation. We booked it online before going in. Always better as booking.com gave us a discount now we were frequent hoteliers. It was far more spacious and comfortable. We stashed our bikes on the balcony. The shower actually had a door and we could enjoy the hot water. There was even, be ready to gasp, a kettle. This is unheard of, even in Europe.
We lay around for a time. Randomly, a man came to the door with a bag of kiwis and asked to borrow a knife. We gladly obliged. We still had plenty of noodles so more hot food for us. We even made chocolate noodles as a little treat. It was the relaxing evening we were hankering for.
Surly They Won't Make It 