Troy!!!!!!!

So, can you believe it? I stood on the grounds of the "fabled" Trojan War, the land of Homer's Odyssey and the Trojan horse (it's only a model). Although the site itself is not nearly as impressive as the ones we've seen (go back to check out Ephesus and Aphrodisias, by far the best), it offered lots to learn. This site is an important example of what happens when treasure hunters get to ancient sites before the archeologists (and when they don't ahve the same moral compass our friend Indiana Jones had). The man responsible for the first "dig" at Troy was nothing more than an obsessive, glorified grave-robber who, in his attempt to prove the spot as the hidden location of Troy, destroyed thousands of years of ruins in his amateurish excavation. Consequently, there's not much to see at the site itself, since it is nearly impossible to reconstruct what's there according to the chronological levels of the city. But, none the less, I stood there and touched the city walls.The next morning we made a sobering visit to Gallipoli, the infamous site and memorial of the WWI battle between the Australians, New Zealanders and the Turks. What is unique about this site is that the memory of those enemy soldiers who died is embraced by the Turkish state and is honored by a celebration each year to commemorate the day on which the British forces landed at Gallipoli. Ataturk's message to the "enemy" was this:

"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives...

You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.

Therefore rest in peace.

There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us

Where they lay side by side here in this country of ours...

You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries

Wipe away your tears,

Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are at peace.

After having lost their lives on this land

They have become our sons as well."

Such a beautiful sentiment, I think.

And then it was along drive to Istanbul, as we said goodbye to Asia and hello to Europe. But here we are, and on our way to visit the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia today!!! I should have some of my most beautiful pictures yet!

The pictures below: the mountain in Cannakale from which the Gods watched the Trojan War (overlooking the island of Lesbos); a diagram of the various levels of Troy; what's left of the ruins at Troy; I'm touching the leaning wall at Troy; and the horse from the movie in downtown Cannakale - recognize it?