(Last Updated on Mar 21, 2024)

(Image credits: most pics on this blog of Troy and the other Turkey ones were taken by my dad 🙂)

After almost 2 days of exploring Istanbul on our own, we joined our group – we had opted for a group tour for the rest of Turkey. My parents were also part of the group – a big reason why we went for this trip – it gave us more confidence to take Parth on his first international trip. As soon as we reached the airport and saw them, Parth jumped into his Appuppa’s (grandfather) arms and stayed there for a good part of the next 4-5 hours! We would be back in Istanbul for the last day of the trip. You can read about it here.

Our first stop in the trip was the western city of Çanakkale. It was a long drive – took almost 4 hours and Parth slept throughout the drive on Appuppa’s lap. On the way, we saw the Marmara sea, a sea contained entirely within Turkey and the one which connects the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea. On the Aegean end of the Marmara is the Dardenelles strait (Çanakkale is at the narrowest part of this) and on the Black Sea end is the Bosphorus strait which we had crossed in Istanbul. The Marmara Sea and the straits split Turkey into its Asian and European sides. The Marmara is named so because of the marble islands in it (the origin of the hindi word “sangmarmar”).

The original plan was to cross the Dardenelles strait to the Asian side by ferry – but we couldn’t take it due to strong winds. So we crossed the 1915 Çanakkale bridge. This was built recently to commemorate the victory of the Ottomans in a sea battle against the British and French. It was believed that if they hadn’t protected the strait in that battle, Turkey would’ve been divided and not in its current form. So even though Turkey lost the world war, it was celebrating its wins. As we crossed the bridge, our guide, Abdul, put on the Darth Vader theme song to celebrate the bridge and the fact that we were crossing continents.

It was night by the time we reached our hotel. Parth got a high chair at dinner and happily ate tomatoes, oranges and some bread.

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Day 3

We woke up at 4am and spent the next two hours getting Parth ready and packing to leave. This is one thing we don’t like when it comes to group trips – most days have super early starts. After breakfast, we quickly jogged down the road to see the beach which was next to our hotel. The sun had not yet risen but the sky was slowly getting brighter. A bit sad that we could not enjoy the “beach” of the “beach-side hotel”.

We proceeded to the ancient city of Troy. We reached slightly before the gates opened. Our guide Abdul explained the history of the place – Homer wrote about Troy in Iliad. Many thousand years later, someone went out looking for the mythical city of Troy and based on the descriptions in the book, reached this place in Turkey and started digging around. And he ended up finding the city for real.

Apparently the city of Troy had many phases throughout its history – 9 in fact. Each time the city would be built and then get destroyed. They deduced this by looking at the walls – they had multiple layers and were made with the preferred material of the time.

At the entrance we were greeted by giant dogs. The street dogs here were really huge. We somehow got in without being mauled by them. Inside was a giant wooden Trojan horse. It was made by an artist around 50 years ago. We clicked some pics with the horse – it was really beautiful with the blue skies.

We walked around the Troy city ruins. Each wall of the 9 versions of the city was visible in the first section. The walls got narrower near the entrance. We then got to a viewpoint – the city was on a cliff. And contrary to what was mentioned in the book, there was no sea for a long way. In fact, a few thousand years ago, the sea used to be till Troy and gradually receded over the years – now there is a huge flat field there. 

We spent another half an hour navigating our way through the city.

Parth had a lot of fun running around the giant Trojan house and making neighing sounds. We took some more pics near the wooden horse and then got on our bus. We then proceeded to Bergama where we had a buffet lunch at a touristy restaurant which was also called Bergama.

Our next stop was Asklepion at Bergama. It was a hospital which was part of an ancient town in the area.

It looked a lot like the ruins we saw at Jerash in Jordan. Many of the pathways were restored and there were huge columns along the path. There was also a theatre inside. Abdul told us that the doctor who used to be there would only take patients if he was confident of treating them. There was an underground pathway which was used to house patients and treat them. It may also have been an isolation area to house patients with communicable diseases.

It started raining then. We had forgotten to take our umbrella as it was in our big bag. We tried covering our heads with our jackets and even took cover under the few trees which were there. Parth started howling as soon as we tried putting on his jacket. He was acting like he was being kidnapped – all the way till the gate. We waited at the gate till the rain reduced and ran to the bus.

We were done with the sightseeing for the day – Troy and Asklepion. We drove past the city of Izmir and got into some horrible traffic jams on the highway. Our hotel was in Kuşadası (hope you have been reading the earlier blogs and got the pronunciation right – Kusha-da-seh). The hotel was called the Grand Belish and it felt very pretentious overall. Dinner wasn’t great. The room had a weird smell. There was a beach nearby but it was closed at night. But Parth slept well in the crib they provided. We woke up around 2am sweating. The temperature control was not working. And we kept calling the reception but no one came to fix it. In the end we had to open up the balcony and sleep. We managed to squeeze in one more hour of sleep before it was time for us to leave again at 4am.

Day 4

After a subpar breakfast, we left Grand Belish. Our first stop was a leather factory. We didn’t enter as Parth was sleeping. After he woke up, he ran around the parking lot picking up all the leaves he could find. 

When everyone got back, we moved to the ancient city of Ephesus. The city used to be a bustling port right from Hellenistic times. But many decades later, earthquakes destroyed most of the town. And trade routes changed. And the sea receded. It rendered the city useless and people vacated it. 

It had many columns along the pathways. A theatre was there as usual. Abdul told us that Julius Caeser lived here at one point. Marc Antony and Cleopatra had a romantic getaway here. We walked towards a viewpoint where we could see the city sloping down the hill towards the port and sea – only that there was no sea now – only plain fields.

We passed by an archway with an engraving of Heracles. There were also some sculptures of a rich family near the gate. Outside the gate, was the street for the common people. Shops on both sides and houses behind them on the hill – similar to what we see in a lot of places around the world today.

There were sculptures outside the shop with the names of the shop owners and their profession engraved – that was their signboard of the time.

Even after all this, we learnt that more structures are being excavated – 80% of the city is still believed to be underground! We saw a library and market area where the ships would bring in goods from far away lands.

As we got towards the end, there were many trees with yellow leaves – it was a beautiful backdrop for photos.

We stepped outside the gate and had Kahramanmaraş dondurma icecream (pomegranate and vanilla) and fresh pomegranate juice. Both were really good but overpriced. Just two shops later, the prices dropped to 60-70% of the first one. So, here’s your tip for this blog! Don’t buy anything from the very first shop!

Our next destination on the trip is Pamukkale – home of the famous Turkish cotton and a very unique landscape!

Check out the other Turkey blogs here:

• The Turkey Itinerary – planning a perfect trip to the crossroads of Asia and Europe
• Lahmacun, Pide and Kunefe – Eating our way through Istanbul
• Unfinished business in Istanbul and an Earthquake – some unforgettable experiences
• Cotton Castles and Whirling Dervishes – exploring the towns of Pamukkale, Konya and Sultanhanı Caravanserai
• Fairy Chimneys, Windy Days and Atatürk – the fascinating world of Cappadocia, a salt lake and the capital city of Ankara

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