Essential Turkey Travel Talk Tour: Kusadasi, Day 7

Day 7: Friday 4th November 2022

Start: Kusadasi, Turkey

Finish: Canakkale, Turkey (Via Troy)

Currency: Turkish Lira

Temperature: 11 degrees and clear departing Kusadasi, 25 expected in Troy this afternoon.

Welcome back my literary friends!

As we boarded the bus this morning, a few of our members asked who felt the earthquake early this morning! I had woken up at around 3.30am feeling disoriented but didn’t notice anything particularly unusual and after I settled, fell back to sleep quite soundly. As it turns out, I was woken by a magnitude 4.5 earthquake with an epicentre about an hour from Kusadasi.

Besides that, we had a great sleep and woke up to breakfast which was somewhat disorganised as we arrived just minutes after three other enormous tour groups who had decimated the food supplies which took about 15 minutes to replenish!

This morning we have 1.5 hours approximately to our first stop, the ruins of Asklepion before another 2 hours to Troy. Mustafa has already given us an heads up that the ruins of Asklepion are more established than those of Troy (as in, there isn’t much to ‘see’ at Troy) but that the history of Troy is the one he enjoys most.

Asklepion was an interesting set of ruins, apparently home to the oldest psychiatric facility on the planet. We walked amongst the fallen marble columns as Mustafa explained the history, pointing out different aspects of the structure to note. One thing I found fascinating was the military base next door to the site where rows of heavily armoured tanks sat just on the other side of the fence as personnel strolled the perimeter.

Lunch was at 12pm at the trusty Ramiz restaurant on the side of the road. The menu was the same as in Istanbul, so it made decision making much easier.

Following lunch we have a 2-2.5 hour drive to Troy. We have been warned that the site isn’t as ‘spectacular’ or as well preserved as Asklepion, so we are prepared to see a patch of sand. Anything more will be a blessing!

I have to say, despite Troy not being as ‘magnificent’ as some people expected, I still enjoyed our visit to the ancient city. A few members of our group were a little disappointed to learn that the story of the Trojan Horse and Helen of Troy are stories written by a blind man, which may or may not be based on historical fact. We walked amongst the multiple sets of Troy ruins as the years of building on top of one another peeled away.

The Kolin Hotel was blessedly only a 20 minute drive from Troy, and beautifully located on the seaside. Rooms are comfortable and well sized including a refurbished bathroom and excellent shower. Wifi is a bit sketchy in the rooms, but other than that I have no complaints about the hotel. Dinner was a fantastic spread, with my favourite being the peirogi dumplings and tomato sauce.

Tips:
Accommodation: Kolin Hotel, Canakkale