I turn the key and nothing apart from a cascade of warning lights on the dashboard happens. Again and again a strange sound comes from the engine that resembles what I have heard before when one has a flat battery. Deceptively, though, the electric windows and radio still came on. In Turkey, rented car, unable to communicate through the language barrier, what could be worse? Try this on for size. We are about to disembark from the car ferry between Canakkale and Eceabat and my car is stuck on the deck as the crew unload the cars and start the reload of vehicles heading back. As you could imagine I am losing it big time. Ultimately out of nowhere a taxi pulls up and successfully jump starts us. Thank god, we are back on track! Breakdown of both car and driver fixed!
Up until then the day had proceeded well. It is a long drive from Ephesus to Gallipoli and we broke it up with a visit to Troy. For me it was atmospheric to walk around the ruins of the city besieged by the Greeks for 10 long years. To walk where Achilles and Hector walked. Where Paris of Troy took the beautiful Helen to be his spouse. I read all of the Greek classics while in university and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were among my favourites. The mock up Trojan horse is not only at Troy but also reconstructed at the waterfront of nearby Canakkale.
Our destination is the bucolic village of Kucukanafarta, yes that’s its name. A tiny farming community largely unchanged for centuries.
