Troy to Istanbul - 13 March

The first week of our holiday has drifted by in a flurry of countries and experiences. Waking in the town of Canakkale and still with the tour group we board the coach nice and early.

Today Troy, the ancient ruins of the city better known for the Trojan Horse legend. In fact, the wooden Trojan Horse (circa 1970s) sits at the site waiting for tourists to have their photo taken along side it. Our tour guide whisks us through the diggings at 100 miles an hour with only enough time for the Trojan Horse photo and toilet stop.

Walking back to the coach for the scheduled departure we discover that a black van is waiting to take Ron and I away from the tour group. It was all very marfia like. Bidding our new friends a hasty farewell we board the van and travel about 3 hours back to Istanbul.

Tonight and for the next couple of days, we are booked into Tria Hotel which is located under the shadow of the Blue Mosque within the old walls of the city. The area is full of restaurants, tourist shops and within easy walking distance of Istanbul's older attractions. The view from our room is the wall of our neighbouring building, a mere 1.5 metres away. No world class view this time, however, if we lean over the window sill we can just make out daylight! The room has the usual amenities and I do feel a little more comfortable here than at the Conrad Hilton. Actually there are some similarities; this hotel also provides embroidered slippers and only one english speaking channel, CNNNNN.

Having heard that Sundays bring out the city residence to BBQ and picnic in the parks and, having seen people sitting in the sun on the steep green slopes of highway cuttings, we decided to spend the afternoon strolling along the waterfront toward the fish market. This stroll of a couple of kilometres would prove to be a real eye opener for Ron and I. We were amazed at the temporary cafes set up on the footpaths consisting of a gas burner with a cardboard box to protect the flames from wind, pot for brewing tea, supply of cups and entrepreneur to sell the hot beverage. At one stage we witnessed a cafe owner collecting water from the polluted ocean and filling a water bottle. Ron thought he may have been using it to wash the glass tea cups but, whatever the purpose, I wasn't going to give the tea a try. We passed people fishing, drinking alcohol, snuggling and cooking fish on the rocks. Further along the waterfront other entrepreneurs had set up two strong sticks, with a piece of string strung between them and a quantity of inflated party balloons tied along its length. Here people were paying to have a go at shooting the balloons with air riffles. There were vendors also selling a variety of nuts including some that looked like sunflower seeds. We watched as people who had bought these seeds, sucked the seed out and spat the kernel onto the cement path. There were piles of kernels surrounding every bench. There was no respite out to sea as it was covered in a greenish/brown fog sitting low over the water. The Marmara Sea was busy with all sorts of ships either waiting to use the channel to deliver goods or steaming past. To add to this chaos, fishing boats were also dropping their nets at the mouth of the channel.

Back at the hotel for dinner we decided against fish or fish products and chose the yummy Lentil Soup instead.