Sardunya Otel Bozcaada

... only 2.5 km away from the famous ruined city of Ephesus, one of the best preserved antique cities in the world and of course another UNESCO World Heritage site. I think we should list all the heritage sites we have passed during this trip, we'll do that towards the end, together with a list of superlatives. We saw the inauguration of Obama live on TV, and celebrated that with a cocktail in a local bar, the Pink Cafe. Although this was listed in the ...

... English. Both had lived in Tevfikiye all their lives, and the one was an author of a fine guide book to Troy. They showed some interest in some of the books I was schlepping around and reading. I got to be a recognized customer. At one day I was given credit when I didn't have enough cash on the moment. And a few times I sat in the office for my computer work, especially when a large tour group ...

... small town. I like such towns. They are quintessential Turkish towns. Agricultural towns, with no pretenses to tourism. And even though I walk the stranger, I don't feel the stares as in many another place. And people are friendly.

I passed a çorba solonu--literally a soup salon. It was early to mid morning, but "soup's on!" So, considering my usual lack of attention to daily sustenance, I stepped in for a bowl of mercimek ...

... before about the Turkish Travel Pixies. They are little sprites of my imagination. None that I have actually had visual sightings of, I hasten to add. But I imagine them--or her--as like Tinker Bell; with a magic wand that sprinkles good luck pixie dust on travelers in Turkey . . . . Well, me at least. Pay attention in this episode, and the next two).

Most of the passengers, I assume, are working commuters on their way to a job somewhere in ...

... second of the three tumuli visible from Hisarlik. There is also a small peninsula projecting from near by. This tumulus had been excavated. A book, now out of my reach, showed an aerial picture of its opened top, with the peninsula in the background. Now the mound was covered with a rough stone pile cap.

From there I just headed off cross country, intending to join the paved road which ran south out of Yeniköy. That's when I ...

... translations of Homer's Iliad, this one by Robert Flagles. I got a little concerned about his choice of words, especially for metals. It was the war, such as it was, was during the Bronze Age. I have read since that there was some iron. But steel? Is that an appropriate alloy to insert in Homer's text?

Concurrently with reading of the Iliad,in the evenings I was reading Finding the Walls of Troy: Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlik ...

... beneath the now more exposed walls of Troy. I'm not off to a great start weatherwise.

The afternoon that I arrived I merely went for a liesurely walk around the fenced perimeter of the World Heritage park site. There are now cultivated farm fields. It is not hyperbole, it is not an exaggeration, it is the literal truth that every step of the way one treads on potsherds.

On the west side of the mound of Troy a farm road skirts the ...

It was an Odyssey getting to Troy. But I suppose that is the only way to do it. Cameron and I were determined to go somewhere by ourselves. We managed to organise some mountain bikes to hire from a repair shop. We paid about $15 each. We had been told it was about 30km each way and was `so so` when we asked about the terrain. We were thinking positively. At 8:30 we trundled off out of Cannakkale following the few signs. It was actually ...

Lunch will be taken enroute and after lunch you will continue on to Troy. This is the legendary city of "Homeros" which has nine principal levels of occupation covering a period of 3000 years. It is rich in history to say the least. Dinner and o/n will be at the hotel in Canakkale otherwise known as the city in Dardanelles.

... was a small and poorly displayed collection of items that farmers had accidentally come across while trying to plow their fields. Most disturbing was the inclusion of human remains in cases next to rusted spoons and canteens. Fortunatly, the rest of the sites were a whole different world. Every single important battle site and graveyard was marked with a monument ...