6th July 2006
I was there and I could hear it echoing into eternity, the sound of glory. All those who I had known who had been to Troy and said it was a disappointment, I had lost a certain amount of respect for then and there. I could feel so much at this place, which even if the legendary Trojan War had not really happened, had been attacked again and again.
We were all shown around by Chona and then given some free time, in which Kylee and I just went back into the site. I had seen what my Bronze Age teacher had been saying about the first Excavator Heinrich Schleimann digging too deep. The trenches were enormous and exposed to the elements and the grass grew all over the ancient city, surely I thought, that with all the tourists who come here some kind of upkeep can be managed.
We stood at the highest point, and we could see the sea and I could almost see the Greek triremes landing on the beach and hear the shout of soldiers mustering behind the city’s walls. I could see Hector and Achilles fighting it out and thought I could be standing on the very spot at which King Priam watched Achilles drag the body of his son behind his chariot. We stayed there for ages and delayed our bus for a while. I climbed inside the memorial Trojan horse built at the site and had my picture taken inside its rickety structure. We got back on the bus and headed for the nearest town, Canankkle in which we would be staying for the night.
We got to the hotel, and wouldn’t you know it the horse from the movie “Troy” was standing right outside, unfortunately for me Brad Pitt did not come bursting out of it dressed up as Achilles. Directly in front of the horse was the Dardanelle strait with views to ANZAC cove, which we would be visiting the next day.
Canankkle seemed to be a place full of students and Chona had told us that there was a major university there. We checked in and had a lovely dinner. I decided to finally have a shower and do some writing. I went out onto the balcony, which overlooked Turkish suburbia and the rooftops of the city and marvelled again at how far I had come. This view of Canankkle was one of an old, dirty city, reminding me of Cairo, but less extreme. It still had a beauty all of its own and I found it charming.
After dinner Kylee and I decide to go off exploring. We had drinks in a nice pub and did a little bit of shopping. We had our pictures taken in front of the Trojan Horse and I got a Pegasus henna tattoo while sitting in front of it. We took off again for some more exploring and ended up in the dark and dingy back streets. We had not realised how late it had gotten and aimed to get back to the hotel. While we were walking we passed pile of garbage bags as high as my head and to my surprise, when I decided to kick one of the bags about ten stray cats exploded out of it, which had Kylee and I in fits of laughter.