Troy, the site of the Trojan War back in roughly 1184 BC, was thought to have been a mythical place as portrayed by Homer in The Iliad. But it was a real city. Its location was first identified in 1822. But it wasn’t until 1868 that the first archeologist began excavations. There are nine levels. The seventh is thought to be the one from the period Homer wrote about.
We could see the walls and the remains of one of the towers. We could also walk through the corridor to the gate, which was at a hairpin turn to prevent the enemy from attacking with a battering ram. Shortly after entering the gate, we could climb to the remains (mostly just the floor) of the Temple of Athena.
The Trojan War was fought against Troy by the Greeks when Paris of Troy (son of King Priam) took Helen from her husband, Menelaus, King of Sparta. Menelaus’ brother was Agamemnon, King of Mycenae. He took the lead in the siege of Troy.
Troy is now considered to be much, much larger than what has so far been excavated. What they have uncovered is thought to be the citadel within the larger city. It is also thought that the Trojan Horse was likely taken up a ramp into the citadel and not through the gate.
We explored several of the levels, including a theatre (Roman) at the 9th level. One of the women with whom I hung out the most and I climbed up a hill that overlooked the remains of the corridor and gate so we could get some more photos before we needed to leave the site. Under that hill is likely even more of Troy.
It was such an exciting place to be since I had heard about it all my life. Though some distance from the sea now, it was right next to it back in its day.
After leaving Troy, we drove along the Bay of Edremit, from where we could see the Greek Island of Lesbos. According to Homer, Lesbos was once part of the kingdom of Priam, the King of Troy.
We had lunch at Bergama, which was once Pergamon. The current city of Bergama is known for its carpets.
In the afternoon, we stopped off at Izmir, which is also known as Smyrna. The origins of Smyrna date to the 3rd millennium BC, but the city was destroyed in the 7th century BC. Then Alexander the Great came along. He wanted to restore the city after having a dream while sleeping on a nearby mountain. He founded his new city of Smyrna on the side of the mountain.
We spent the night at Kusadasi from which we explored Ephesus the next day.
Trojan Horse at Troy 
Remains of tower 
Corridor to gate 
View from Athenian temple 
1st excavation 
View of some of the levels 
The ramp 
Another view 
Roman theatre 
More of Troy 
A different view of Troy 
The gate and corridor viewed from the opposite hill 
Izmir/Smyrna