RIP Turkey

Since my trip failed this section is devoted to the areas I intended to cover.

Alacahöyük

Alacahöyük is a Hittite city dating from the 13th Century BC. The Hittites were the Late Bronze Age Empire of Asia Minor with their capital at Boğazkale where I was to go later. I'm rather fond of the Hittites and was really looking forward to seeing some of their cities.

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Boğazkale

The ancient capital of the Hittite kingdom. The city of Hattusa is located in the modern village of Boğazkale where it was discovered at the end of the last century. The most impressive thing about the find is that there were thousands of tablets detailing the governance and history of this previously unknown people. Getting public transport here would be tricky at best which is why I needed a car. This was always near or at the top of my list of places to see while in Turkey.

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Cappadocia

A really bizarre place Cappadocia is a region where all the houses are carved out of the rock. Kind of like Petra only on a smaller scale. The terrain is beautiful and there are several underground cities to explore in the various towns around. I was to be focused on Göreme but there are several other towns around that I would have tried to visit including Çavuşin, Ürgüp and Uçhisar.

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Ankara

Ankara is the capital of Turkey. A modern city with a few ancient areas the only reason that we were stopping here was because we needed a midway point between here and Pamukkale to prevent the trip from taking over 12 hours. They also have the Museum of Anatolian Civilization which is supposed to be very impressive.

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Gordium

My original choice for a midpoint the modern town of Yassıhüyük built up around it has no hotels. This was the seat of the kingdom of Midas as well as being where Alexander the Great cut the famous Gordian knot.

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Pamukkale

Another sort of odd place, Pamukkale is an ancient hot baths. There is also a Roman town built above it but it seemed like a nice place to stop and relax on the way west.

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Ephesus

Located on the western coast of Turkey Ephesus was a major Greek and later Roman city.

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Pergamum

About two hours north of Ephesus is Pergamum which is another ancient Greek city. Both are well preserved.

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Çanakkale

A modern town where we were to spend the night. Çanakkale is useful as a stopping off point when you're going to either Gallipoli or Troy. The ferry to Gallipoli leaves from Çanakkale and Troy itself is only about half an hour away. A friend of mine used to live here and he said it was quite a nice town so there's that as well.

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Troy

Need I say more? The most famous city in Western literature. There is apparently little left of it but that's not really the point is it? The point of going to a place like Troy is to stand where such famous people lived and see what it was like. I've read a number of books on the archaeology of the site as well so I was well prepared. As I write this now I am supposed to be in Troy so this seems a particularly bitter loss.

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Iznik

Iznik is the modern name for ancient Nicaea. This was thrown in as a rest stop on the way to Istanbul since that trip would have taken over 10 hours. I'm not sure what's actually there. Still, the city itself was important in many eras. It was where Constantine issued the Nicene Creed as well as being the focus of the first major battle of the First Crusade and the later capital of the reborn Byzantine Empire.

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Istanbul

Ancient Constantinople, the capital of the mighty Byzantine Empire. One of the greatest and most impressive cities in the world. I'm told that most of the original city is built over but unlike Rome the modern city seems to be nice and atmospheric. Also the home of the Hagia Sophia, probably the most impressive Byzantine church in the world (although San Vitale was pretty amazing).

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