Sunday 23 September – A horse, home hospitality and a hospital.

This morning we left Cannakale and made our way to nearby Troy, now just the remains of an ancient city-state that was, according to archaeological evidence, first settled about 3000 BCE and inhabited for the next 4000 years, until about 1000AD.  There have been about ten “Troys”; as each was destroyed another city was built on top of it.  It was always surrounded by a stone wall and is believed to have been the setting for Homer’s “Iliad”, which is set in about 1200BCE.

Unfortunately, like most of the rest of Turkey, much of the site is closed off for renovations. (All of this renovation work has been going on for the last couple of years during the dramatic downturn in tourism – up to 80% - since the 2015 terrorist attack in Ankara, when 109 civilians were killed, and the 2016 coup attempt.)  Nonetheless, we could see some stone walls dating back a few thousand years, an original, intact Roman-era pottery water pipe-line, and the small theatre where the politicians used to gather.  And of course we had to pose for a group photo beneath the replica of the Trojan horse.

We continued on, high up into the mountains and way off the beaten track to a small village, where we were greeted by the mayor, in front of a couple of statues with words of wisdom on their plinths.  We walked up to the local bakery, to be greeted by a couple of the local ladies, in traditional costume, who plied us with freshly-baked bread.  We were split into two groups and taken to the home of each of the ladies, where our host Guler served up a delicious lunch of home-made cheese and spinach pastries, Turkish moussaka (vegetarian) with yoghurt, vine-leaf rolls, olives and a delicious dessert of a pastry soaked in honey, all washed down with a local red wine (and I do mean local – made in the village from local grapes).  We were also treated to fresh figs, pomegranate and walnuts.  A delicious and memorable lunch, and wonderful hospitality.

We waddled back to the bus and were farewelled by the mayor, then headed off to Pergamum to view, from a distance, the remains of the citadel on a high hill, then walked through the remains of the Asklepion, a healing centre, founded in the 4^th century BCE around the site of a sacred spring (which is still running – John had a drink from it and expects to be scampering around like a startled gazelle tomorrow).  People came from far and wide to be healed, however to protect its reputation the physicians refused to accept any patients who were unlikely to respond to their treatment; they were sent off to a hospital some six hundred kilometres away (and usually died trying to get there).   It was probably the world’s first psychiatric hospital as some of the treatments involved whispering words of encouragement and other more cerebral treatments. Roman Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius liked to go there.

Back on the bus (after politely refusing the offer of a lift on the local transport) for the drive to our home for the next two nights – Izmir, a city of four million people and a very important sea-port.