Having spent some 24 hours travelling to Istanbul, what
better thing to do than hop on a bus for a 6 hour ride to Eceabat (in Europe),
then follow it with a short ferry ride across the Dardanelles. We were following in the footsteps of ancient
greats (King Xerxes in 481 BC, Alexander the Great, Byzantine Generals, Ottoman
Sultans and of course more recent modern waring nations); this was the
place to stake your claim. Stunning
Byzantine citadels on either side of this waterway attest to this.
Byzantine Fortress straddling the Dardanelles (perhaps inspired architect Le Corbusier) |
People complained that there was nothing to see, hence this imaginative reproduction |
Famous for finding treasure at Troy, Schliemann (in 1871),
cut a swathe through various centuries to unearth this wealth. His amateur methods were overlooked, perhaps
due to his access to funds, but the fame was certainly all his. Later during WWII his treasure disappeared to
surface in a Russian Museum. Perhaps
they borrowed a previously-loved wooden horse to move the loot?
They only sacrificed virgins here, darl! |
Now I won’t go on but suffice to say that legend and truth are mixed in fair portions and there is quite likely some truth in the existence of our hero, Ulysses. In Homer’s “Iliad”, Troy was called Ilium and it was at this very spot that the ten year Trojan War took place.
We know that because a giant wooden horse guards the entrance to these digs. If that won’t fit in your handbag, souvenir sellers have a vast variety of others to choose from.
This pile of rocks is thought to have once looked like the drawing below. Just use your imagination |
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