This had to have been one of the best weekends in my life so far, and it was especially needed after the crappy week that I was having. Before I get into this at all though, I have to thank Em, Grace and Katie for coordinating all of the trip when I was unable to do so (look at previous post to know why). After our classes last Thursday, Lessa, Grace, Em, Katie, and I took a took a cab to a Otogard (Turkish bus hub). From there on we took a bus to Çanakkale, a small town on the opening of the Dardanellas Strait. The bus traveled along the European side of the Marmara Sea. We went down the Gallipoli Peninsula and then took a ferry at night to get to Çanakkale. We found where we were going to sleep for the night and we after a long a week we decided to just quickly get some actual food (all we ate the entire day was sweets on the bus), go see some live music for a couple of minutes, and then go to sleep. God I loved the beds. We were supposed to stay in a hostel, but they had heating problems. They decided to put us up in a hotel for the next two months and all we had to do was pay the hostel and the hostel paid the rest. It was awesome for one reason: the bed. In the superdorm, I have been forced to get used to this extremely hard matris, which has actually been hurting my back. That night however, I felt like I was sleeping on the best damn mattress ever! I loved it.
The next day, we got up early to see the ruins of Troy. It was made especially interesting because we had an enthusiastic tour guide who was fully aware of all the stories surrounding the city. We would actually talk to him about it, and he provided some interesting insights about the city that I didn't know about previously. It was a glorious experience though in it's own way. There was more of the ruins intact then I previously thought. It was quite a cool place. It was especially interesting for me since I love the story of the Illiad, the Odyssey, and would love to one day read the Aneid. If you are familiar with the Homeric stories then you can pretty much visualize as you go through the ruins the actual events that took place in Troy. However much has changed since then. I learned that the plains below the site of Troy were actually apart of the ocean for the longest time but I guess it changed. Troy is actually now very inland compared to how it once was much closer to the sea. But when the gulf that was right next to the city disappeared then Troy lost its geographical importance, so attempts to resettle the area met with failure. Most of what was left were stone structures found in the inner part of the city, and the walls. However much of the ruins were destroyed but treasure hunters who called themselves archaeologists. One in particular, German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, found the treasure of King Priam and took most of it back to Germany. However the Russians then looted it after WWII and now claim it as their own. IT BELONGS TO TURKIYE!
After the tour we went back to Çanakkale to quickly visit the Military Museum which depicted the battle of Gallipoli and the Ottoman forces decisive victory over the Brittish forces. I learned something impecable though. The Britts had a bolt-action rifle capable of firing 5 shots before reloading. The Ottomans had German Maussers which were single shot weapons. How did the Ottomans defeat the Brittish? Serious cahones, courage under fire, and being very well trained. In order to repel the attacters the Ottomans had to have deadly accuracy and they had to rely on volley firing tactics! I saw the Museum, the fort, and the Naval Base with Lessa. The other three girls decided that they wanted to go see the Wooden Horse used in the movie Troy because Brad Pitt was once in it...lame. I got to see it but it wasn't anything to be like, "oh my God! I can now die happy!" Lessa and I just talked for a bit and walked up and down the water front that night, then came back to go to an Internet Cafe to check our email. I saw something disturbing though. World of Warcraft has invaded Turkiye apparently. After that, we went to get Durams for dinner, then desert and did work for school for the rest of the night.
The next day was by far one of the best days of my life. We got up early to catch a Dolmus (a small bus) from Çanakkale to Behramkale, also known as Assos. Assos was founded in the 8th century BC from colonists from the Greek Island of Lesvos. Many great Philosophers lived here including the famous Aristotle. There was a statue made of him near the entrance of the ruins actually (I took a picture with me having a dialogue with him). Alexander the Great retook the city from Persian forces later on, and St. Paul even visited briefly. Now it has been reduced to a small village that lives off Tourism. When we were there the village was dead on the outside, but there was still a lot of life to be had. We immediately went to the ruins of Assos which were situated at the top of the hill (for protection reasons). Once we got to the top it was as if we all found a little peace within us. We saw the remains of the Temple of Athena and we paid tribute to her in the form of honoring her with our presence by payment of 10 lira as an entrance fee. We were the only ones there. There were no annoying tourists, or rentacops telling us we couldn't go on top of the pillars. It was just us, the sound of the ocean below us, the wind, and the beautiful view of Lesvos and the town. The island of Lesvos where the famous female Greek Poet Sappho lived was literally right across the water from where we were. I wanted to go there but we just didn't have the time necessary to do it. For about four hours we just roamed around at our leisure taking pictures of the ruins, of ourselves, relaxing in the amazing view, and just being at peace. We also started climbing ontop of some of the pillars and just goofing off while reading from our guidebooks more about the town. It was peaceful. Later we also got to se the old greek towers that fortified and protected the hill during the times of antiquity. We did get to see the outside of the Hudavendigar Camii, a very old Ottoman Mosque. However due to renovation being made, we couldn't go inside.
We went back down and saw the only two street vendors that were open and decided to get some stuff from them to help stimulate the economy by pumping money into it. I know it is dated Keynesian economics, but hell it is also very reputable, and respected logic. We only saw one restaurant that was open and that was the Assos Restaurant. I ordered meatballs because I was feeling like I needed to eat cheep. However because we were the only customers he has probably had in a while, he gave me in particular a welcomed bottle of wine (FYI: the taste of this countries wine is growing on me). The owner was very nice to us and we were treated like royalty.
We then walked down the street to see the other parts of the ruins that were from the Byzantium era. We should have paid for it, but no one was working the ticket booth and the gate wasn't locked. So we just decided to go right in and start our own little tour. We started off on a pathway that went directly through a cemetery filled with sarcophagi that would literally in a matter of days start eating away the flesh of the dead. We danced upon the graves of the deceased (they are dead and don't care) and explored some of the more fascinating areas of the cemetery. We then made our way into the Necropolis which was awesome. It would have been truly a site to go back in time to see what Assos was like when it was a bustling city. There were remains of houses, and buildings everywhere. The walls that protected the city were truly massive. Imaging the walls of Helms Deep from the second LOTR film because that is exactly what it looked like. However the three best sites by far were the old sewer system that was built, the gymnasium and the theater! The old Theater was massive! It was used for plays, and early was a place where Gladiators fought and killed each other! Grace, Lessa, and myself decided to just goof around so we went through the evolutions of the plays in ancient Greece. We all started as the chorus but Grace stepped out and started to recite lines becoming our first thespian. Then it was Lessa and then me. We tried acting our Oedipus Rex and Em was very critical of our performance. This was by far the best part.
We walked back up to the Hostel that we were staying at and went to the same place we had for lunch for dinner. The hostel was a great experience. It was cheap and a fairly nice place to sleep for a weekend. Next time, however, I need to try couch surfing. The dinner was good. I had fresh caught fish. How did I know it was fresh. Because the guy gave me an entire fish with the eyes still inside. It was sea bass and like before he gave all helpings of wine. He especially doted with with three glasses of his finest Dry Red Wine. He then offered me Raki but I declined (the most alcoholic drink one can possibly order!). After dinner we decided to rest until midnight and we went back out into the ruins to see the part of the town that was on the waterfront at night, and to celebrate Em's 21st birthday in the Greek Theater. We even brought cake that we ate under the stars (and the view of those were amazing as well).
The next day, we had a long dolmus/bus ride back to Istanbul. However I will never forget Assos, Troy, and Çanakkale.
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