History and a feast

First stop of the day was Troy. I had no idea what to expect here apart from a big wooden Trojan horse; which was actually there, although I’m pretty sure it isn’t the original one 😂😂
I discovered that the town of Troy has actually been built and rebuilt 9 times due to fires, earthquakes, battles etc. Each time it was rebuilt on top of the previous “version”, so it became higher and higher. Different levels could be seen as we walked around - how fascinating!! And, it was only rediscovered in 1870. The first city, called Troy I dates back to 3600 BC and the most recent, Troy IX existed until about 400 - 900AD making the entire place about 4000 years old! I had no idea.
Next we had lunch at a local restaurant in the centre of the old town of Pergamon. The locals didn’t know what hit them when we all rocked up hahahah!
We had an eggplant dish, a kofta dish and some sort of boiled wheat dish (🤷‍♀️) as well as a traditional dessert. OMG it was a culinary delight!! I love, love, love trying the local foods. We are super lucky because our guide also runs Gourmet Food Tours of Turkey as a freelancer and also happens to be president of the Turkish tour guide association. #winning!!
After lunch we took the cable car up to the ruins of Pergamon, a relatively modern city dating back to 280BC (🤣🤣).
This acropolis still has several columns made of marble and a 10,000 seat, very steep amphitheatre, as well as a very advanced drainage system which we walked through. As I’ve previously mentioned, I do love a good column so I was in my element. The white columns against the bluest of blue skies was just magic, especially with the spectacular view out to The Aegean Sea.Read more