Wow, İ realized today how long it has been since İ wrote anything. Sorry for the lapse.
Troy was really, really cool. The town we stayed in - Canakkule - was a college town and it was filled with some of the friendliest people we have met so far. Everyone from our hotel staff to the people at the kebap shop we happy, outgoing, freindly people. İt was that kind of friendly that make people feel nostalgic about the 1950s. A lady that worked at the kebap shop actaulyl hung out with us off shıft on the day we left and made sure we were on our bus. She was so sweet.
The ruins of Troy are pretty well preserved, though conservation is still far from complete. The site seemed to focus half on the history of the archaelogoical expeditions of Troy and half on what the buildings were. The history of the expeditions, consequently, is really neat and the first man to ever dig there was both really smart and a complete moron (due to his blundering he destroyed lots of relics, but he also put to practice some theories of process at the time).
Next we went to Selcuk and the ruins of Ephesus, apparently the best preserved Roman ruins on the planet. Selcuk itself was understandably very touristy (100000 people per day in high season) but the ruins are well worth it. They are massive and house one of the largest stadiums we have seen yet. Ruins can be all the same around the world, but the sheer scale of Ephesus realyl sets it apart. Very cool place.
Our next stop was Pamukkale, an old Roman hot spring town. We found agreat deal on a hotel that ıncluded dinner, breakfast, accomodation, and a guided tour for 20 Euros. We got a very nice tour of the ruins there, then spent a couple of hours with our feet inhot mountain water while watchng the pools.
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1&ei=PU_2S7_AMNDz-QaY5M28CA&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=pamukkale&spell=1
The day was overcast and a little cold, so when the wind picked up it froze us into submission and we turned back early. Those pools are so blue and beautiful hat if you ever make it to Turkey, go.
Last night we boarded a night bus for where we are now, Cappadocia. This town is famous for its underground cities and cave-style rooms in hotels. İ was really excited for this until this morning when we checked out rooms and İ was reminded of what caves smell like. Mold. We found a decent place and will stay hre for a couple of days walking around and seeing the ancient city. All of the hills around here, though, have had houses carved directly into them and so look like gnome houses. İ keep expecting a hobbit to come out celebrating his eleventy-fi
Troy was really, really cool. The town we stayed in - Canakkule - was a college town and it was filled with some of the friendliest people we have met so far. Everyone from our hotel staff to the people at the kebap shop we happy, outgoing, freindly people. İt was that kind of friendly that make people feel nostalgic about the 1950s. A lady that worked at the kebap shop actaulyl hung out with us off shıft on the day we left and made sure we were on our bus. She was so sweet.
The ruins of Troy are pretty well preserved, though conservation is still far from complete. The site seemed to focus half on the history of the archaelogoical expeditions of Troy and half on what the buildings were. The history of the expeditions, consequently, is really neat and the first man to ever dig there was both really smart and a complete moron (due to his blundering he destroyed lots of relics, but he also put to practice some theories of process at the time).
Next we went to Selcuk and the ruins of Ephesus, apparently the best preserved Roman ruins on the planet. Selcuk itself was understandably very touristy (100000 people per day in high season) but the ruins are well worth it. They are massive and house one of the largest stadiums we have seen yet. Ruins can be all the same around the world, but the sheer scale of Ephesus realyl sets it apart. Very cool place.
Our next stop was Pamukkale, an old Roman hot spring town. We found agreat deal on a hotel that ıncluded dinner, breakfast, accomodation, and a guided tour for 20 Euros. We got a very nice tour of the ruins there, then spent a couple of hours with our feet inhot mountain water while watchng the pools.
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1&ei=PU_2S7_AMNDz-QaY5M28CA&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=pamukkale&spell=1
The day was overcast and a little cold, so when the wind picked up it froze us into submission and we turned back early. Those pools are so blue and beautiful hat if you ever make it to Turkey, go.
Last night we boarded a night bus for where we are now, Cappadocia. This town is famous for its underground cities and cave-style rooms in hotels. İ was really excited for this until this morning when we checked out rooms and İ was reminded of what caves smell like. Mold. We found a decent place and will stay hre for a couple of days walking around and seeing the ancient city. All of the hills around here, though, have had houses carved directly into them and so look like gnome houses. İ keep expecting a hobbit to come out celebrating his eleventy-fi