Back towards Istanbul

After our afternoon exploring the battlefields we decided to catch the ferry over to Canakkale for the evening.

The ferry only took half an hour and cost the equivalent of a euro each way, and as Eceabat was so sleepy we thought it would be fun to check out the slightly brighter light's of Canakkale's sprawling harbour settlement.  When we arrived there was some big football match going on, the bars jam packed with fans, so we wandered around checking out the giant model of the Trojan Horse which was donated to the town after being used in the filming of the movie 'Troy'.  Wandering down to the end of the harbour we spotted some massive dens filled with locals drinking cay and beer, chatting and playing backgammon.  Deciding that looked like our sort of spot we took a seat and ended up whiling a couple of hours away - with a few friendly locals coming up to try out their English and say hello.  After yet another kebab for dinner we caught the ferry back to Eceabat, enjoying having the whole deck top to ourselves as we braved the cold wind and drank tea on our journey back across the harbour.

The next morning we jumped in the car and drove all of 50 metres from our hotel to the ferry terminal, where we drove the car onto the boat to travel across the Dardanelle's.

First stop of the day were the ruins at Troy, where it has to be said, it it wasn't for the name - and the legendary associations - almost nobody would visit the place.  The remains are pretty unimpressive, and it takes a lot of imagination to reconstruct almost all of the city's former splendour inside your head!  Still as a bit of a novice history buff, it was an important site to tick off the list.    Remembering that people have lived on the sight since the Bronze Age is pretty mind blowing, but mostly it is just a pile of very old rocks strewn about the place.  Wandering amongst the ruins the most interesting sights were the model Trojan Horse which you can climb up inside, and spotting several red squirrels flitting about.

From Troy we carried on our journey with the GPS taking us towards a place called Assos, a former working harbour town which sounded quite appealing in the guidebook .  Along the winding road we stopped at one of the stalls seemingly built into the bank at the side and had the most delicious freshly cooked pancakes stuffed with a strong goats cheese, before purchasing a large jar of green olives and a bag of figs from the kind woman running the stall.

The road was amazing, the many olive trees lining the sides of the road giving the area a very Greek feel.  At one point we found ourselves right next to the water's edge, so stopped the car for a photo and a chance to stretch our legs.

Eventually we arrived in Assos, which involved a pretty precarious ride down the side of a very steep mountain, minding out for the herds of sheep on the sides of the road.

After checking out the limited budget accommodation option in boutiquey Assos we decided to try the nearby settlement back at the top of the hill, a tiny place called Behramkale, an ancient Greek village spread out around the ruins of an ancient temple to Athena.  We discovered a gem of a place to stay which had beautiful views from it's rooftop terrace and a friendly owner named Rafika who seemed delighted that we would be spending the night in one of her rooms.

Heading up the hill to check out the temple we spent an hour or so wandering amongst the ruins, looking at the beautiful views out towards some of the Greek Islands and the Turkish coast, whilst avoiding a slightly crazy old man who was trying to sell us a bunch of dried tea leaves!

Later that evening we had very little choice in the way of dinner options as the town was so quiet and mostly closed for the off season - but it was lovely to stay in such a peaceful, quaint spot.  The next morning after a delicious breakfast and the obligatory spend in Rafika's olive oil shop we were on our way, headed north towards Istanbul.

On the way back towards Istanbul we spent the night in Bursa, a large, modern city with absolutely maddening traffic.  Driving on the highways we had an interesting experience with a policeman.  The whole time we had been driving we weren't sure of the speed limit, so Tim had been sitting on about 120km/hr.  Anyway we got pulled over by a policeman who didn't speak much English, who then explained to that we had been speeding as the limit was 110.  Telling us that we had to pay a 130 lira fine and saying that we could pay him directly, Tim pulled out a 100 lira note, which the policeman then eyed up, took from Tim and said not to worry about the rest - it seemed we had unintentionality bribed him!  A little bewildered we carried on our way, making sure we stayed well within the limit from then on!

We spent the night at a thermal hotel in Cekirge, a hillside suburb of Bursa, which included use of a thermal Turkish bath in the basement as part of the room price - just what we needed to relax after trying to negotiate the crazy traffic and being pulled over by the cops!

The next morning we woke to a miserable day and set out for the Yalova ferry terminal, where we had read we could catch a ferry across the Sea of Marmara direct to Istanbul, knocking several hours off our journey time.  Being deceived by the GPS we were a little confused by the options of several different ferry terminals in the area, and got a little lost in the pouring rain, losing power to the car after driving through a massive puddle on the motorway, but we survived and made the crossing to Istanbul without too much trauma!