Turkey

Visiting the excavation of Troia made a big impression on me (the official spelling is now Troia instead of engl. Troy or germ. Troja). You can read everything about the nine layers of Troia I-IX here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy. But I was very pleased to find so many references to my old university and especially the modern main excavator of Troia Manfred Korfmann, whose lectures on the issue in Tübingen back in 1988 I remember well. In Çannakkale, where we crossed over to the European side of the Dardanelles, I accidentally saw even a Korfmann library.

GPS and more photos: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=13916

Approaching (and passing) the westernmost point of mainland Asia. Rural area , in the higher regions primarily pasture with plenty of sheep and shepherds everywhere. The other feature of this peaceful rural scenery are the many mules that serve as a means of transportation. Despite the large amount of meat on the hoofs it is difficult to find Kebap-places with most of the beach resorts closed in winetrtime. So our most important filling stations are now the tiny food shops in the villages and little towns and of course the cafeterias for the excellent çay. Historıcally significant sight on today,s route is the ruins of Alexandria Troas, a city that once competed with Byzantium for the title of capital of the East Roman Empire in the time of Constantine. Outside the ruin I got interrogated by police (jandarma) because of the road paintings that we produce in order to indicate our nightstay location. In the evening I get a glimpse of TV news on the current Turkish incursions into Iraq.

Along the Gulf of Edremit wıth an almost constant view of the island of Lesvos, if many times only behind deserted beach resorts. Reaching the ancient town of Assos in the afternoon. Assos beautifully overlooks the sea from a volcanic rock escarpment (trachyte) and contains the ruins of an ancient Greek city in Asia Minor. According to Baedeker, Aristotle lived here between 348 and 345 BC and Assos is also mentioned in Acts 20,13ff.

The restored temple columns display the Dorian order

Explaining locals in Küçükkuyu the way to China

Elevation profile between Burhaniye and Assos

GPS and more photos: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=13711

Also note the gallery on http://www.bicycle.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=67

After the night ferry from Athens to Lesvos we decided to continue right away to Turkey as ferry connections are irregular during the touristical off-season. So we entered Turkey one ahead of our time schedule and without being able to properly say good-bye to Greece, which certainly means so many different things to our European culture and heritage. Probably there is even some Greek thinking behind our Olympic Bicycle Ride, even though we don't consider ourselves as olympic fighters, let alone competitors on our road to Beijing. That is not to say that the daily mileage doesn't pose a daily physical challenge to everyone. Today, after landing in the port of Dikili at 11 am and the (for me) pleasant surprise that neither German nor Finnish citizens need to buy a Turkısh visa (everybody else had to), we covered ca. 75 km on the main road towards Edremit.
Welcome ın Dikili by the local press and police who escorted us out of the town.

GPS and more photos of the day: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=13601