Schliemann's trench
The deep cut Schliemann drove through the mound shows the stacked layers of settlement before your eyes.
Brian Harrington Spier — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Paul des Granges — Public domain · Paul des Granges — Public domain · Ertly — CC BY 4.0
Nine cities lie buried one on top of another inside a single mound that rises barely thirty metres above the plain. This is the real Troy, not the film version. On the hill of Hisarlık, roughly thirty kilometres south of Çanakkale, layers of settlement pile up from around 3000 BC to the Roman era, and in the 1870s the German merchant Heinrich Schliemann cut a great trench through them hunting for Homer's city, wrecking what he did not understand along the way. The trench is still there, and it is one of the clearest things you will see. Be warned: the ruins are low and sparse, and anyone arriving expecting towering walls or palaces will leave deflated. What rescues the visit is the signed boardwalk that loops the site in about an hour, passing the Troy VI walls and their sloping gate, the stone ramp of Troy II, the small Roman odeon and the sanctuary remains. The information panels are decent, but a guide makes the real difference, or better still, see the Troy Museum first. It sits less than a kilometre away and explains the nine layers so well that the stones start talking afterwards. The wooden horse at the entrance can be climbed, and for children it is usually the high point of the whole outing and the one photo everyone keeps. The path is mostly level but gravelly, with short wooden steps, so a pushchair works but is not comfortable. In August there is almost no shade and the heat on the hill is fierce, so come at opening or after five in the afternoon, when the long summer hours are on your side. Getting there from Çanakkale is easy: half an hour by car down the coastal road, or the Troya minibus from the town's minibus stand, which drops you at the village. Gulf visitors most often pair Troy with the Gallipoli peninsula over one or two days. Your site ticket also covers the Troy Museum, so do not skip it.
The deep cut Schliemann drove through the mound shows the stacked layers of settlement before your eyes.
The most legible remains on site: a sloping wall of dressed stone and a gate from the era Homer's war is set in.
A big climbable model at the entrance that children scramble into and everyone photographs.
Tevfikiye village, Troy, Çanakkale
Honestly, not hugely. The ruins are low and unreadable without explanation, and the wooden horse alone does not justify an hour there and back. Pair it with the excellent Troy Museum and Gallipoli, though, and it becomes a full, worthwhile day, especially with children who love the horse.
Museum first. It explains the nine layers and shows the real finds, so the stones make sense afterwards. One ticket covers both and they are less than a kilometre apart.
