Çanakkale to Izmir

We got to Troy very early before it was crowded. It is just a pile of rocks and fragments of walls but our guide did an excellent job of describing why it was an important city for 3500 years (till about 700).

For lunch we went to a tiny farming village where families took us all in groups of five or six to their homes for food they had prepared. It was delightful and delicious.

The main crop is pine nuts and there are groves of pines covering the hillsides.

Then we moved on to Asklepion of Pergamum. Asclepius is the name of a healing center dedicated to Asclepius, the god of healing. There were several in Greco Roman times.

Then on to Izmir which is ancient Smyrna.