Sımpson Prıze - 22nd April
Today we went to Asia! We took the ferry across the Dardanelles, which was amazing because it only takes around 5 minutes. We got to look at the forts on both sides, which were bombarded during the naval campaign of the First World War. The fort on the Asian side has been converted into a museum, staffed by Turkish men serving their compulsory military service. We walked in a replica of the Nusrat and watched presentations about the Turkish success on March 18th. We also got to look at a collection of WWI guns and cannons, and watched a play set in the Turkish trenches. After the fort we saw the horse from the movie Troy and then drove to Troy itself, which was really amazing. The site has ruins from each of the 9 cities of Troy, which were built one after the other as each was destroyed. Seeing the excavation sites was amazing, as some of the ruins date back to 3000BC. There are also better preserved relics from the Roman times. Our guide Guzin also told us some of the history and mythology behind the story of Troy, which was really interesting as we could see how wrong Hollywood got it. After posing for some pictures inside the giant horse we came back to the European side on the ferry before heading back to the hotel. The Mediterranean was freezing as ever and today was infested with jellyfish as well! After dinner we played card games before heading of to bed.
Zoe Power