on my tour of turkey

well, i've officially decided that tours go too fast, involve far too much time on buses, and include sites that you really wouldn't mind if you missed. this morning we went to troia (troy) which to be perfectly honest was quite underwhelming. all that remains lots of limestone and sandstone walls, recreated mudbrick walls, a few scattered columns and some food storage pots. the only cool thing to see was the perfectly preserved amphitheatre, built by the trojans and refurbished by the romans. 

i do admit the history was quite interesting to learn. turns out the city began as a fishing village and was razed and rebuilt 9 times until it was abandoned by the romans in 580AD due to the changing land formation pushing troia inland, eliminating its trade significance. 

the famous trojan war occurred during the 7th period of the city, and whilst helen was the catalyst, the primary objective of the greeks was to gain control over the richest seaport in the aegean. the conflict lasted 10 years before the greek force breached the city walls with the trojan horse. 

anyhow, enough history lessons. i'm now on an 8 hour bus ride which is meant to have wifi and meant to have usb points, but my phone won't connect to either, so i'll have to post this when i arrive in selcuk! sleep time :) 

.... turns out sleep wasn't really on the cards, the aircon conked out while it was 39 degrees outside :/ at least we stopped a lot - turkey has really good tost (cheese and tomato toasties)