Hello Fans! I've been negligent in my posting, so I have a lot to catch you up on...I will start with my trip a month ago to Troy, Gallipoli, Cannakale and Bursa.
Yes, the legendary Troy is
in fact in Turkey, or at least the place we went
t
o is believed to be Troy. After entering the gates we were greeted by a large, wooden horse that was clearly made in the last few decades, but
we had fun going up in it and
getting our pictures taken. The ruins weren't overly impressive, mainly because we spent
a couple of hours
listening to a dry description of
the excavation work and the seven layers of civilization at Troy. It wa
s interesting to be at such a legendary place, though, and there were several pillars and blocks
of marble with Greek writing on them that added to the atmosphere.
My favorite part of that whole trip was visiting the castle (kale in Turkish) at Eceabat (See above photos). The staircases went all the way up to the top of the walls, but there weren't any railings or way to stop you from falling, so we were strongly recommended not to climb them. Of course, we couldn't resist climbing half-way at least. There were also cool passageways and in the above photo where I
am standing in the doorway I had to climb up through a dark, narrow passage with the use of my cell phone light and my (non-existant) sense of balance.
I'
m not sure what that room was, but it was really surprising to enter the simple-looking stone door and be presented with the archways and broken beams peppering the walls that went up about fifty feet to the ceiling.
We also visited the World War I memorial site at
Gallipoli. At the top of a
mountain overlooking the Bosphorus, t
here was a huge stone monument (see picture), clear grave markers, and several other iron and stone monuments. Ataturk, who was the leader of the Turkish
fight to regain their lands after WW1, was highly featured, of course. I'll talk about Ataturk later, but he is revered in Turkey to the
extent that during the Turkish Republic holiday, banners of him are EVERYwhere and range from a string of fifty photos to a three-story banner hanging from a building.
We went to visit the trenches, which
have caved in a bit but are still several feet deep, and our tour guide told us the story of how
the attacking forces were coming (I think the Italians?) and
the Turkish troops needed to hold the position until more
troops came, so A
taturk told his men, "I am not giving you an order to attack, I am ordering you to die!" Ataturk himself didn't die because although he was shot by a bullet, something averted
it-I think it was an eye-glass or something. (Those are cannonballs on the right)
We stayed at a hostel in Cannakale, which introduced me to the concept of shower-bathrooms which are the lovely rooms that contain a shower-head right in front of the sink, so that sometimes when the sink is turned on, the water comes out on your head instead of on your hands. I was also able to experience the shower-head falling off onto my head during my shower.
Despite those problems, though, the hostel was pretty nice with a traditional Turkish breakfast and a (not-so traditional?) small fish pond cut into the stone floor in the center of the breakfast
room. At a Cannakale restaurant we also read about "cigarette pie" on the menu- none of us were brave enough to buy it, but we later discovered it's a pastry that's only shaped like a
cigarette and it doesn't actually taste like one (it's not supposed to, anyways).
We also visited Bursa and visited the Green Mosque (Yesil Cami), which is actually blue on the outside but some of the tile work was green inside. We didn't have to wear headscarves in there, but when we went to Ulu Cami, the Great/Holy Mosque, everyone had to
remove their shoes and the girls had to cover their hair. Inside Ulu Cami the floor was completely carpeted and there
were ornate chandeliers, reliefs, wall designs. There was even a stone fountain in the center (see below). The picture with the blue floor and the Sultan's coffin is the Green Mosque and the others are from Ulu Cami. I apologize if the formatting of this blog is a little weird, but I've been having difficulties with the pictures and I have another exam to study for, so until next time Gule Gule! (Goodbye in Turkish)
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