Tuesday, July 12, 2011 - Troy (Troia), Turkey

I mean, who actually can say that they have visited the ancient ruins of the Homer's Troy?  I guess me - that's who!  Unbelievable.

Now, the truth is that the ruins are mild and few in comparison to the places I have seen in Greece and especially around Turkey.  When the sight was first excavated in the late 1800s by a German man, he basically did everything they tell archeologists NOT to do and because of that, there is little actually preserved.  However, just to stand on the ground and see the nine different layers of ancient civilizations dating back all the way from Troy I (around 3000 BC) to Troy IX (500 AD) was quite astounding.

The "Troy" that Homer refers to in the Iliad is what is now called Troy VI or Troy VII (yes  - that's the 20 year way between the various Greek kingdoms and the Trojan's for the love of the beautiful Helen and the Trojan horse story!)

A map showing the nine civilization layers of Troy

A group of scouts that were triyng out their English with me!

The well-built Trojan walls designed so that the best position was to be on top looking down over your enemies.  Smart planning.

These are the original trenches were the first excavations took place in the 1880s.  Today they still take archeology students here for field trips on "what NOT to do" when excavating sites.

Can you see the signs pointing out all the different layers of civilizations.  I tried to capture all nine levels in one shot, but it was harder than it looked.

This Trojan horse replica is built for visitors to climb in and through. So fun! 

I love this picture!

This picture is a different replica...can you tell?  This is the horse that was used in the movie, Troy, that came out a few years back starring Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, and Eric Bana.  This one was in the town of Cannakale.  Super impressive, but not quite as fun since you couldn't climb inside it!  :-)

Tomorrow we are going to visit the battlefields of the World War I Gallpoli campaign.  I've been so looking forward to this visit since I got this trip because I learned quite a bit about it in a college history class years ago and watched the old Mel Gibson movie.  Then we will be heading into Istanbul.  We will technically (geographically) be leaving Asia tomorrow and heading to Europe - but we will not ever leave the borders of Turkey.  So amazing.  Just 7 more days in Turkey, then 5 days in Egypt, and then I'll be back state-side.