Troy and Ephesus

So 2 days out of Istanbul and 2 sets of ruins visited. 

First up on our way out of Gallipoli was a visit to the remains of the city of Troy, famous of course for the legend of the wooden horse and the Greek army. 

The first thing you see when entering the site (which cost 15 Turkish Lira or around £5.50) is a replica of the wooden horse from the legend which is only around 35 years old. The reality of the situation is that nobody knows if there was actually a wooden horse involved in the battle for the city or not, as they only have tangible proof that a battle was fought in the city by finding arrowheads and spears etc as they have excavated the site over time.

The wooden horse at Troy

At this point only around 30% of the site has been excavated with the remaining 70% being currently buried beneath reasonably deep woodland. The technology company Siemens is funding further research into the site which will be taking place over the next 5 to 10 years (slow progress the excavating lark!). So far they have found that the city has been rebuilt essentially 9 different times on the same site, obviously over many different eras, and they are able to roughly date and map each of the layers of the ruins individually. The cities were named (rather unoriginally) Troy 1 through to Troy 9, with some of the ruins dating back to approximately 3000BC. It is widely believed by experts that the city in existence at the time of the great battle would have been Troy 7, although there was evidence of war paraphernalia also discovered in Troy 6.  

Following the trip to Troy we camped up at a rural spot in the hills near a village called Kocaoeayoru, where after the locals discovered our presence we became somewhat of a tourist attraction. Locals in cars, on bikes and even riding tractors to come and have a look at what we were doing. Everybody was very friendly and one man even brought us some eggs and milk from his farm.

The locals stop by for a chat (and then pop back later looking for a lost sheep) on the tractor

Following our stay there, we made the short drive to the beach near Selcuk where our campsite for the next 3 days was. Everybody was delighted to see the deep blue sky and sea, and the golden sandy beach, and within a couple of minutes most of the group were out larking around in the shallows (great fun!).

Our campsite just outside Selcuk

The only scheduled event during our stay at this campsite was a visit to our second set of ruins, the Roman ruins of Ephesus, with an admission price of 25TL (or around £8.50). With a large quantity of remains dating back to around 90AD and later, Ephesus is the largest example of Roman ruins in Turkey, and what a sight it is. The site dwarves that of Troy, and there is a remarkable amount of the building structure still remaining. Some restoration work has been made to some of the structures, but on the whole it is in excellent condition. The 2 highlights of the visit were the old library building (the second largest in ancient history), and the amphitheatre which was capable of holding up to 25,000 people for a gladiatorial contest. 

The library building. Some of the group at the bottom give you a sense of scale

The remainder of our stay at the campsite we have tried to treat as a "holiday from a holiday", where we have taken a bit of time to relax and get a few jobs sorted out (such as washing and a repacking of our bags). The mosquitoes however have take an exception to me having a good time and have bitten me something chronic (Despite repellent and long clothing being ever present in the mornings and evenings)! Two of my bites have swollen up uncontrollably and extra rations of stronger antihistamines have been acquired by Adam the driver for me :)

Tomorrow we set off for Pamukkale, which is home to natural hot springs, and terraces of carbonate minerals which have been left behind by flowing water. Aside from the early start it should be awesome!