Tuesday, 01 February 2022
We stepped off the bus directly opposite one of the entrances to the village. A man in a small shed sold us our tickets, and we made our way up one of the old village streets. Kayaköy was immediately fascinating and thought-provoking. The higher we climbed up through the narrow streets, the more the size and scale of the village were revealed to us.
Saturday, 29 January 2022
Pamukkale was a bucket list item for Susan, but she probably didn't imagine going there during one of Turkey's harshest winters for decades. We were crossing our fingers that the whole place would not be buried under the snow. Looking out of the bus window as it made its way towards Denizli, that now seemed unlikely.
Wednesday, 26 January 2022
We caught the morning train to Selçuk, arriving around 12:30 pm. When we stepped down from the train, the first thing we noticed was the remains of a Byzantine Aqueduct crossing the square in front of the station and an old fortress overlooking the town from a nearby hill.
Tuesday, 25 January 2022
I wanted to go to Bergama. I really wanted to go to Bergama to see the ancient city of Pergamon. I spent an hour going back and forth between the bus companies in Çanakkale but only had limited success. Two of the companies would drop us off a the Bergama Bus Station on their way to Izmir, but none of them would pick us up from Bergama a few days later from the same bus station. They all just said it was not possible.
Monday, 24 January 2022
The reason we were in Çanakkale was simple. The ancient, even mythical city of Troy. Çanakkale was the closest town by bus that we could base ourselves from which we could easily reach Troy. The trouble with Troy is that it is complicated. The archaeological site is complicated, the story or myth of the Trojan War is complicated, and even the discovery of the area today known as Troy is complicated.
Sunday, 23 January 2022
Today was a travel day. We needed to get a Taxi to the Greater Istanbul Bus Station (Esenler Otogarı) and then buy a ticket for Çanakkale. It had snowed again overnight, this time more heavily, and we didn't think the Taxis would be able to get down the steep, narrow and now icy streets. That meant we had to walk up them to the main road, which we did slowly and carefully.