Canakkale to Selcuk

An early start today as we headed to Troy. The original wooden horse at Troy was a bit disappointing, although we got to climb inside it and peer out the windows. The replica at Canakkale that was used in the movie was better.



The remains of the civilisation of Troy were not particularly interesting, as it was mainly foundations and walls. We did learn however that it is a city that has been built on 9 times on top of each other since about 3000 BC. The period of Troy that we are most interested in is period no. 6 which is around 1250 BC and that recorded by Homer (the Historian, not the Simpsons). This was when the story of the Trojan horse (if real) is believed to have occurred. Watch the movie for a version of the story.



As we were about to leave someone noticed a kitten on the ground which we would have otherwise run over. We think the mother dropped it in a fright. It was so small (and cute), probably only a few days old and still blind. It was calling out for it’s mother. We realised that it would probably die if left so we dropped it off at the local shops where someone would be able to take it home and look after it. Now it should grow up to be a nice house cat rather than a scavenging wild cat.



After Troy we got lunch at a roadside stop, where we had lamb doner kebabs and ayran. Then we headed to a carpet manufacturer where we got a lesson on carpet making. The host explained about natural vegetable dyes versus chemicals and showed us how silk is obtained from a silk worm cocoon.

He also showed us how the knots in the Turkish rugs are constructed. Then we got showed an amazing array of carpets and kilim, large, small, wool, silk, different patterns, colours etc. It was amazing. We found a runner we liked so we got it for our front entrance hallway, after some bargaining.



Then it was time to head to the hotel in Selcuk. We passed through the city of Izmir on the way which is where our guide is from. Apparently the ladies are very pretty in Izmir. Asking someone “are you from Izmir?“ is a complement. The hotel had a pool so we all went for a dip when we got there before having a buffet dinner which had a wide range of food, including some nice desserts (sweet, wet biscuits and cakes, and rice pudding). After dinner, we picked up some drinks from the local petrol station and hijacked a fellow travellers room for some entertainment, which ended up in watching the Turkish version of Deal or No Deal (which dragged on for ages with commercial breaks)!