1/14/2009
Seeing the old Constantinian walls was really cool. David kept saying how he would hate to have to attack them, and I definitely agree with him. They were so high and strong; I mean, they've been standing for thousands of years. It was also really cool to see how the modern city worked its way around the wall, like putting tunnels through them for roads.
We rode on the bus for a long time on our way to Cannakale where we were staying the night. On our way, we stopped to visit the World War I battle site of Gallipoli. It made me sad to think about how many people died there, but the view from the memorial was absolutely beautiful.
I was ridiculously excited when we got to the Hellespont, which is the strait that leads to the Black Sea. It's one of those places that I've heard about in my studies for a long time, but have never seen. And now I've seen it! I loved how they had the Turkish flag on the side of one of the mountains. The Turks are just as patriotic as Americans are.
We rode on a ferry to get over to Cannakale, which was fun. As soon as we got off the bus, we were harassed by men trying to sell us perfume. When we got to the top of the boat, it was nice to just look out on the water.
Cannakale is definitely much nicer than Istanbul. It smells nicer, looks cleaner, and it even has the Trojan Horse from the movie Troy! The night in Cannakale was really fun. We all just went out to a bar and hung out together. Even our professor came with us!
Tomorrow we see Troy, and I couldn't be more excited!
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