Oct 4, 2025
Troy is a real city that used to be on the sea and was inhabited for over 3000 years.
Weapons and efforts of defence have been found there, so there have been many battles and som. The best Trojan Horse is by far the one at the port. The one at the ruins may allow you to climb into it, but it can be roped off. The third horse is at the roadside on the way to the museum.
The site of the ruins is NOT a tour for those with mobility problems, and if you are in doubt the film of the ruins and the museum are advised. The museum is wheelchair friendly, but the ruins are not.
The movie Troy starred Brad Pitt and Eric Bana. The site was found by an early archaeologist who like others, was driven by the desire to find gold and treasure. He no doubts found some, and some treasures are said to be in Russia. There is still very much to unearth, like the amphitheatre.
The site is normally a twin visit with the museum, and we enjoyed doing the museum first.
Legend has it, in Greek mythology, that the Trojan War was an attack on the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, King of Sparta. The movie Troy starring Brad Pitt and Eric Bana is based on a tale first written down in the epic poem The Iliad, written by the Greek author Homer in about 750 BC. In short, the Greeks give the Trojans a parting gift, a large Wooden Horse. It is taken inside the city walls and the Trojans (People from Troy) party. When drunk and asleep, the many Greeks come out from inside the horse and attack them. The rest of the army was hiding on an island nearby, thought to have sailed away. The Trojan Horse may be fictional, but Troy is a real place and there were many battles there.
A Bronze Age city buried beneath a huge mound in northwest Turkey is thought to be the ancient city of Troy because gold treasures were found there in 1868. They were thought to be the gold of Priam, the King of Troy. However, in the mad rush to dig the gold, they almost ruined the clues in the dig. The gold went to Russia and has never been returned, and it was from the wrong age. Although 6km inland, in that period the Aegean Sea went that far in, so the city was on the coast near the Dardanelles Strait and directly across from Greece. It is the right size for Troy, with about 10,000 inhabitants. Since 3000 BC nine different cities have been there. The one that fits the time in Homer's poem is known as Layer Six and dates to around 1250 BC. The city by the sea is also close to the island of Tenedos, said to be where the rest of the Greek Army hid when they pretended to sail away. It is also close to Mount Ida, where, in the story, the gods Zeus and Hera sat and watched the Trojan War unfold.
Many weapons have been found at the dig of the city whose walls were five metres thick and nine metres high, with towering gateposts. So, there were definitely battles there. The last people to occupy this area were the Romans, up to about 500 AD.
CHAT GROUPS for cruisers - this is where you can ask those who have been on the ship or to the port. Our many friendly chat sites welcome you.
https://www.dorisvisits.com/chat-groups/
we've arrived at troy it's about five
minutes away from the museum in the
coach
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this is a great map of the excavation
layers of troy and it looks like there
were at least nine layers
the important positioning of the land of
troy meant that it was occupied for over
3 000 years so there was troy one troy
two right up to troy nine and they're
all standing on top of each other no one
knows what they were actually called but
archaeologists have labeled them that
carpets killing heat here in
you know real hot summer
this is the original city of troy wine
you can see the walls behind me it might
seem tiny but this is the time when
people were living in caves and trees
and they built themselves a city not
only was the harbour close but this area
got flooded more than once and they
found lots of seashells around here
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mud bricks are the ones in the middle
they're the original ones
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this is the door to a trojan house
you can imagine this was the harbour
wall and the ships were there that made
troy such a wealthy nation
but also destroyed troy because
the mud brought mosquitoes and the
mosquitoes killed them with the malaria
in the early excavations they basically
cut a trench through the hill and they
were looking for gold and stones and
what they did was destroyed what was
here
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this wall is part of the fortification
of troy two and over there is the ramp
that stopped people coming up into the
city
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the pots you can see behind me were
found from troy two and the pikes from
the romans in troy nine
these are the legendary walls from troy
six and if helen did exist she would
have existed within these walls at that
time
this stone is really tough it's from
3000 years ago it was called man killing
stone
but then by the time the romans came
they wanted to make things quick and
easy so they used sandstone
so the trojans were clever they built
two gates the first one was down there
and the second one was around the corner
so when the romans came with a battering
ram they burst through the first gate
but then they couldn't get to the second
gate because it was round the corner so
while they were about
they killed them
so this was the palace in troy six and
the harbour used to come right up to
here and see how far away is now
the temple of athena was built on top of
the palace but unfortunately that was
destroyed in the earthquake it was built
of marble but there is a sealing stone
that they found that we can show you
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so you can see the structure of the city
walls and the width of them and over
there is where they've closed the gate
that's gate five
they were in fear of being attacked and
they couldn't defend five gates so that
was one less to worry about
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away from shiliman's destructive
excavation this is a much more modern
excavation and you can see it's much
more intact
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this odeon in troy 9 was built on top of
the fortification walls of troy 3 and
the statue that we saw of hadrian in the
museum they found just here
and this side of the footbridge are the
remains of the roman baths so after
they've been in the bars they could go
across to the odeon which was for vips
only this is the south gate of troy six
and the main entrance of the city
the engineering was amazing because they
channeled the water away so the path
didn't get muddy this is the council
chamber where they made all the
decisions about troy
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remember the old gag how many people can
you fit in the mini well how many people
do you think you can fit in there this
was in the film starring brad pitt and
eric banner called troy
just guessing but we reckon that front
section dropped down and they all ran
out so if you don't actually make it to
troy the next best thing is to come and
visit the trojan horse and this model
we've just arrived at the troy museum
let's take a look
it's worth saying that this
museum was voted one of the top 10
archaeological museums in europe
if you've come all this way don't miss
the great view from the roof
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