| I
was awoken that morning in my hotel room by the blast of a ship’s
whistle as it sailed |
| through
Çanakkale Strait - the Dardanelles. The city was still asleep, apart
from the |
| bakers
who had started work before dawn and were already filling crates with
oven-hot |
| bread,
and the newspaper delivery vans. An inter-city coach full of sleepy
passengers |
| rumbled
its way into the city. After purchasing some golden, crusty loaves
of bread I |
| drove
off. I planned to make my way via Geyikli to Assos, a distance of
92 kilometres. |
| Six
kilometres past the signpost to Troy, I turned off the main highway
towards Geyikli |
| and
Bozcaada. The first village I passed through was Taştepe, followed
by Pınarbaşı, Mahmudiye and Üvecik. Beyond Üvecik I came to a fountain
and stopped for breakfast. |
| I
boiled water and made myself a cup of tea. The only sound was that
of dozens of |
| different
birds. On the plaster of the simple water fountain the craftsman had
written |
| ‘Kumburun
Village Association Fountain 1941’. So for over half a century this
watering |
| place
had been a halt for travellers, wild creatures and birds. After leaving
Kumburun I |
| reached
Geyikli, where I took the road signposted to Bozcaada island, and
was soon at |
| Odunluk
Quay on the Aegean, where the ferries leave for Bozcaada. A few fishing
craft |
| were
tied up at the pier, on which some anglers were fishing. Here there
are a handful |
| of
restaurants and cafés, and some guest houses offering accommodation
in the |
| summer
season. |
| |
|
Then
he went inside to fetch sweets for his visitors. Along the wall
of his blue painted
|
| house
was a row of old tin cans containing a mass of different plants: basil,
chilli |
| peppers,
tomatoes, various coloured geraniums, fuschias, and carnations, transforming |
| the
pavement into a colourful street garden.This
was the neighbourhood of Giritli |
| bordering
on Mütareke Square. With its old houses lining the road along the
seafront, I |
| was
reminded of the Bosphorus. The old part of Mudanya is now an urban
conservation |
| area,
centering around the main streets of Oniki Eylül, Fevzi Paşa and Mustafa
Kemal |
| Paşa,
and the side streets leading off them. Scattered amongst the houses
shaded by |
| great
plane trees are old buildings where once olives were stored and processed
for oil. |
| In
this area is an 18th century church which now houses the Uğur Mumcu
Cultural |
| Centre. |
| |
| From
Odunluk Quay I drove on again, turning off to visit the picturesque
fishing village |
| of
Dalyan, which has some small fish restaurants facing
the sea. Here, 150 metres south |
| of
the fisherm’snt shelter, are the ruins of the ancient harbour of Alexandreia
Troas. The |
| ruins
of the city proper are spread over a wide area two or three kilometres
away from |
| the
village. Alexandreia Troas was founded in 310 BC by Alexander the
Great’s general |
| Antigonos,
who called the city Antigoneia. Following the death of Alexander,
King |
| Lysimachos
of Thrace brought in settlers from the surrounding region to the city,
which |
| he
renamed Alexandreia Troas. The city was largely destroyed in a subsequent |
| earthquake,
but the remains of the theatre, palace, agora, temple, baths, necropolis
and |
| city
walls are still worth seeing. The theatre and palace lie west of the
main road amidst |
| thick
bushes, and are virtually impossible to find without the help of a
guide. If it had not |
| been
for the detailed directions of Sait, a local shepherd whom I encountered,
I would |
| never
have found either.Right by the necropolis are the Kestanbol thermal
springs.Troy, |
| about
30 kilometres to the north, overshadows the other ancient sites of
the area, where |
| the
Troy Festival begins during the first week of August and continues
for fifteen days |
| every
year. The programme of concerts and diverse other events attracts
visitors from |
| villages
all around.My next stop after Dalyan was the small town of Gülpınar,
the ancient |
| Chrysa. |
| |
| On
the way it is possible to make a detour to the village of Uluköy,
near which are the |
| ruins
of another ancient city, Neandreia, dating from the late 8th century
BC. In the |
| Bahçeleriçi
district of Gülpınar is the Temple of Apollo Smintheus, where excavations |
| are
continuing under Prof. Coşkun Özgünel. This Ionic style temple built
in 150 BC is |
| the
only surviving example of its kind in the Troad region of northwest
Anatolia. |
| Featuring
a double row of blind columns, it is the work of Hermogenes, the architect |
| who
set his stamp on Hellenistic period Anatolian architecture. This
region is rich in |
| underground
water sources, and in antiquity it is thought that underground channels |
| supplied
the city with water. |
| |
|
The
cult of Apollo centred around places with an abundant water supply,
since clean
|
| spring
water was required for Apollo to make prophecies. Neandreia was the
regiosai |
| most
important oracular centre. On
the coast 9 kilometres southwest of Gülpınar is |
| Babakale,
Turkey’s most westerly point. Here is the last castle built by the
Ottomans, in |
| 1723.
One of the most popular bathing beaches is the bay of Ak Liman, which
lies just to |
| the
north. The area was infested by pirates in past centuries, and has
a seafaring |
| tradition.
The 16th century Ottoman seaman and cartographer, Piri Reis, relates
in his |
| Book
of Navigation that the tomb of a seaman named Peksimetyemez Latif
Baba, who |
| was
buried in Babakale, was revered by sailors.Whenever
the Ottoman naval fleet sailed |
| past
Babakale the crews would toss bread into the sea in the direction
of the tomb for |
| good
luck, a custom which is still followed by local fishermen and those
on boating |
| holidays
in the area.Now I turned eastwards towards Behramkale, better known
by its |
| ancient
name Assos, my last stop. This journey is full of surprises. You might
happen |
| across
a spring or harvest festival in one of the villages you pass through,
or a wedding |
| celebration,
lending memorable colour to your travels. Local people will tell you
of visitors |
| caught
up in such festivities who ended up staying for days in villages they
had had no |
| intention
of even stopping at. |
