Day 85: Fireworks on Our Last Night in Asia, Canukkale

Related Content

It’s a soft, warmish morning and time to say goodbye to the puppies. I hate leaving them and so want to find them a home, but Turkey just doesn’t do pets like us. If I stopped for every stray pup and dog then I would have hundreds if not thousands by now. Breaks my heart each time. Thankfully, our dead battery requires a little attention to get going, a welcomed distraction.

Road that leads to Lesbos..

Within half an hour we are parked up and walking on the ancient site of Assos. Like many ruins, it had a theatre, a temple, agora and many more features. If truth be known I have had my fill of ancient sites but the quite ones are nice to walk around with Mac n Tosh. Aside from its immense history, Assos is also famous for its unusual sarcophagi found within the Assos necropolis. In ancient times they were known to have the ability to decompose bodies extremely rapidly. Hence, they became known as ‘sarko fagos’ in Greek, which translates to ‘flesh-eater’, and it is from this interpretation that the word ‘sarcophagus’ originated (click to enlarge photo).

We press on toward Troy. The landscape at first is unsensational, the road rising and falling over undulating hills. A string of hotel placards carry the promise of great things to come. But, as we approach Troy the shabby digs sadly fail to deliver. A bit like the modern museum (fee 35tl), which has all the right ingredients for making a great place it just forgot to put them inside. In fairness, it does has some good pieces but without an identity they really are just ruins in a big rusty box.

By late afternoon we arrive in the bustling port town of Canakkale. The main dual carriage way rides high above town providing a great vantage point for spying a potential Mercedes dealer. Ford, Fiat, Opal, Renault and every other dealership dominate the skyline but not a Mercedes, sigh. Then we spot an Iveco service centre! It is only a small set up and whilst they don’t have the battery they call their sister depot and book us in. After lovely cup of tea the owner, who looks a bit like Kevin Costner, drives over to the depot and we follow in convoy. An hour later, £90 lighter and Vin is back to normal with a decent battery under his hood.

: Our escort

: Vin in sick bay

: The garage

Our Bumble parking spot at Canukkale GPS position N040.163436, E026.408888

We park up on top of Canukkale Hill just in time for sunset. Within minutes our idyllic quiet sleepy spot is surrounded by hundreds of people. A parade of sort with a vibrant colourful crowd, dressed to the nines and waving the Turkish flag. Horns toot and and next minute a mass of motorbikes, decorated with flashing lights and red coloured sashes pulls up. Vin is under siege by hundreds of bandanna bikers. Screeching disco music blares out from a car stereo and boys race through on scooters.

We are quite an attraction as hundreds of Turks stand at the front of Vin gawping inside. We step outside to join the crowds and find out what is going on what BANG! The first of many fireworks light up the sky.

Our last night in ‘Asia’…how did they know!