The next day I left for my Troy trip. They split us into 3 groups alphabetically so Lauryn wasn’t in our group but I went with V. We went to the Troy and saw the ruins of the 9 cities. We also saw the replica of the Trojan Horse. It was definitely a replica because it had windows so you could go in and take a picture. Then we went to the Archaeological Museum and saw the WWI memorial stuff. There were letters and bullets and clothes and more. Then we went to Eceaabat and Canakkale by ferry and spent the night there. This actually took us to the Asian side of Turkey so I have officially been to Europe and Asia (and later Africa). The hotel was interesting. There were 3 and they weren’t very equal. Our rooms were tiny – just the 2 small beds, a night stand, cabinet, and desk. We didn’t even have good blankets – just these things that were the same material as the towels in the bathroom. But it was a place to stay and it was just one night so it was alright. Also, it was really hot in the rooms because you have to put your key in this slot in order to turn on the electricity. So that means the air conditioning isn’t on unless the key is in the room. So we turned the AC on all the way to 18 degrees Celsius. Apparently that’s really really cold because we woke up the next morning and needed to turn on the heat. Anyways, that night we just walked around and went out on this platform that goes out in the water and sat for a while. We also saw the actual Trojan Horse that was used in the movie Troy. The next day we took a bus and ferry to Gallipoli. We went to Gelibolu town and 1915 World War I Gallipoli battlefields and memorials. Then we went to a beach at the Aegean Sea. We went in the water for a while but it was so cold. I figured we would warm up after a while once we got used to the water, but when we finally got out to get some lunch we were still covered in goose bumps. Our tour guide said that it is almost always windy there. He said that there are only a few days each year when it is not windy. Our itinerary got changed so we reversed the order of our trip and switched our plans for day one and day two. This means that when we were walking around outside at Troy is was really hot and not too windy, but then when we were at the beach it was really windy. Oh well. We ate lunch (we couldn’t read the menu so we just got what the other people got – it was a grinder with sausage stuff inside – pretty good) and then got on the bus to head back to the ship.
The next day I went back to the Grand and Spice Bazaars with Alexander and Tim. We did a little more shopping and went back to the ship. There was some time before on-ship time so I went to get some of the baklava that the shop across from the ship is famous for (apparently it has the best baklava). There weren’t any seats in there so I went to the place next to it and sat with Janelle to read my book (later got some pistachio baklava from the other place and ate it before I got back on the ship – it was delicious). There was a girl behind the counter and a guy who was our waiter and they were so nice. The girl didn’t speak very much English (she did know how to say “Enjoy your meal.” and was very proud to say it). I felt bad not speaking their language while she was making such an effort. Instead of asking the guy to translate for her, she would ask him how to say something in English and then come over to our table and say the sentence. She said we were sweet and that I had a pretty face (the guy later came over and said “you do have a pretty face – I see it now” haha. I didn’t know what to make of that). Anyways, they wrote down their emails for us and made Janelle friend them because she had her facebook open. We are now facebook friends too haha. So then I got on the ship and said goodbye to Turkey.
From the ocean between Egypt and Morocco before the Straight of Gibralter, Sharon
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