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In the footsteps of Alexander the Great


Today was the day we visited the fabled city of Troy which is just down the road from Canakkale. Although morning it was very hot but well worth seeing. 

I saw the ramp that Homer evocatively wrote about ascending in his book "the Iliad" which was apparently a hot best selling novel of its time. 

Homer was right here! 

 

Apparently many famous people also went up this ramp. Alexander the Great did. Mr Achilles also went up this ramp too and at the top some one went and  put an arrow in the poor mans heel thus immortalising him and changing the English language forever 

Now which horse is the original one - yesterday's ( just checking you read the blog!) or today's?  This one has his private parts in the form of a ladder ! 

 

It was actually all very interesting. Unlike a lot of ruins along the coast there is not much above the ground but a huge lot of interesting excavations 

 

 

I found the current digging to be interesting 

 

Thus satiated with Greek and Roman history and mythology we mounted our chariot and head off down to the  town of Foca. The temperature climbed and climbed until it reached 37.5 deg C. At that point  I lost interest in wandering around ruins at that temperature with heavy riding gear on. The temple of Apollo will have to wait to another day ! 

Is it was two hot and tired travellers that rode  onto the seaside then of Foca. What a gem the town was.!  We had a little pink hotel right on the waterfront with happy Turks everywhere frolicking on the beach and in the water in front of the hotel. . It seemed quite incongruous seeing young ( relatively ) Turkish girls sunbathing in their small bikinis while the five o clock call for prayer comes over the loudspeakers from the minarets. And above our hotel is a small statuette of  Mary ! I guess that is the type of tolerance and freedom we need more in the world right now - especially in the case of Turkeys rather pricklish neighbours! 

Our lovely pink stone hotel that just glowed in the setting sun. It was a superb spot and we had superb hosts. 

 

Someone needs to teell the hotel people there is a tree growing in our room ! 

 

And the sun sinks lower and the cool breezes come in 


 

The waterfront. People strolling , talking and eating 

 

The sun sets on a beautiful day 

 


Tomorrow we head down the Turquoise coast of Turkey 


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