| The Caucasus - My Journal |
History, Food and Swimming...What Turkey's All About
Troy, Pergamon & Selcuk, 29th July
The second day of my "Trooper Tour" was packed with two more sights, spread down the Western coast of Turkey: Troy and Pergamon.
After the famed Turkish breakfast (a platter of bread, boiled egg, feta cheese, jam, tomato, cucumber and olives) we drove over to the ancient site of Troy, with Ali once again as our guide.
The story of Troy is a famous one, and the site of the city is literally piled with history. Over the centuries, Troy has actually been 5 or 6 different cities, with a new city being built on top of the old one whenever it was destroyed by fire or raids. Digging down through the area reveals the timeline of the cities and the site has still only been partially excavated, with more than half still uncovered.
Today, Troy is only a collection of ruins and walls in various states of decay. There are very few complete structures to see and good imagination is required to really enjoy the site. In fact, Ali told us that there is more than enough there to be really exciting and interesting, if you just fill in the gaps with your imagination.
 The thing I found most striking thing about the ancient city, was the ingenuity used when building the place. A huge range of clever tricks and engineering skill have been applied to overcome natural and manmade hazards. The main gate to the city was built with a stone passage in front with a sharp corner about 10 metres away from the gate. These cramped conditions meant that battering rams could not be used as there was no space for the ramming team to get a run up. Also, all of the outer walls were built with interlocking stones and inclined inwards to help protect against earthquakes. It seems as though man has been using his ingenuity for clever applications for 1000s of years!
Before heading down to the ancient city of Pergamon, we stopped off for an all-you-can-eat Turkish buffet lunch. The meal was fantastic, with a huge array of local delicacies, but all-you-can-eat buffets are a bit of problem for me when I'm backpacking. At home, if I'm eating a meal but feel full before I've finished it, I just won't eat the rest. However, when I'm backpacking on a budget, I will always finish my meals. When I'm trying to conserve cash, it doesn't make sense to leave food uneaten, even if it means stuffing myself till I'm painfully full. Now...strictly speaking, the best way for backpacker to make use of an all-you-can-eat buffet, would be to finish all the food...but obviously this isn't possible. So, I just ate as much as I possible could before exploding...returning to the buffet about half-a-dozen times. And after each consuming enough food for a small army, we headed south to Pergamon, barely able to move and desperate for a post feast snooze...
 Pergamon is an ancient city located near the modern city of Bergama. It was built some time before 399 BC, and became particularly important when it became the base of Lysimachus, one of Alexander the Great's generals. There are a number of well restored sights, including a stunning acropolis and a huge theatre on a steep slope with 10,000 seats spread over 80 rows overlooking a tiny stage.
We had a different guide this time, a young woman with a much stronger accent, and it took about 10 or 15 minutes to get used to her voice so we could interpret what she was telling us. The city was hugely impressive, and with so much careful reconstruction having been done, it is very easy to imagine how the place must've looked when it was in use 1000s of years ago.
Strangely, there were very few tourists, and apart from a small English group (being led by the most stereotypical Englishman I've every seen) we had the whole site to ourselves. I really enjoyed Pergamon, particularly as we didn't have to weave around crowds of package tourists.
After we'd finished exploring the old city, we climbed back on the bus and continued our drive down the coast to the town of "Selcuk, actually, our destination was just outside of Selcuk, a hostel called "Atilla's Getaway", which was to prove to be one of the best places I've ever stayed!
 A five minute drive out of Selcuk brings you to a non-descript turnoff where the hostel can be found. But it's not really a hostel, it's more than that...it's a Backpacker's resort! Dorms, private rooms and bungalows are gathered around a wide green garden with a huge shimmering pool, a well-stocked wooden bar, pillowed reclining areas and a number of picnic benches for alfresco dining. The place was really alive, buzzing with backpackers, eating at the benches, lazing in sun loungers, splashing in the pool and generally having a good time. We all quickly decided we could spend a long time here, and it easily made my list of things to revisit on my next trip to Turkey.
We quickly unpacked our things and sat down to dinner which had just been served. And not long after we entered into the spirits of things by having a dip in the pool then settling down to a few beers in the comfortable bar area. An easy way to pass an evening if ever there was one!
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