After an early breakfast we headed to the Trojan horse that was used in the movie Troy. It is near the harbour in Cannakale and was given as a gift by the producers of the movie. We then headed to the actual Troy (Troia). The settlement dates back 5 000years, however the horse it is famous for is more myth than reality. A more likely story is that the people worshipped the god Poseidon (who rode a horse and caused earthquakes) built the horse as an offering to Poseidon after an earthquake broke down the city walls and allowed the invaders to defeat the Trojans. Unfortunately not much remains of Troy, so it is a little disappointing. There are 2 reasons for this: the first that when the first excavations started pick axes and shovels were used and caused damage, the second that the Ottoman empire wanted all ruins destroyed so that the descendents of those civilizations couldn't lay claim to the land. By the time the tourism potential was realised the damage had already been done. The treasure of Troy is actually in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow after lawsuits, purchases and looting after WWII.

Our next stop was the town or Bergama, where a temple dedicated to the Egyptian gods Isis and Septamis was built after the locals decided their gods weren't cutting any more and heard about these powerful gods in Egypt so decided to give them a go. A cross section was later added to the temple and it became a Christian church in the 6th Century.We then visited the ruins of Pergamum, which is much better preserved than Troy. The local ruler, who was a bit of a loony, willing handed the area over to the Roman Empire after an ambassador commented on how nice the area was. Many temples were built in the city including one dedicated to the Roman Emperor Trajen, as well as temples dedicated to Athena and, my personal favourite, Dionysis, the god of wine. There is a large amphitheatre in which Aesop (of the Fable fame) spoke and the tradition of applause at the end of a performance began. It was not to show appreciation of the performers, but to wake the emperor Hadrian as no one was allowed to leave the theatre until he did and he kept falling asleep. Pergamum was also home to the second biggest library of the ancient world (behind the one in Alexandria) and is where parchment was invented, after the Egyptians banned the export of papyrus.

On our way to our stop for the night, we stopped at and Onyx and Jewellery factory whereindulged in a little retail therapy...a silver necklace. We arrived at Kusadasi, our home for the next 2 nights. It is a tourist town that caters to mainly Brits on package holidays so is full of Chinese takeaways and even has a Starbucks. We were welcomed to the hotel by the owner with a drink, had a late dinner of fabulous doner kebabs and then went to an Irish pub, where we received free t-shirts and shots and where the waiters do synchronised boy band dancing!!