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"Nightly she sings on yond Pomgranet tree,Beleeue me loue, it was the Nightingale."- Shakespearenightingales in the morning, while half-asleep i almost fancied they were speaking to me, hurriedly imparting of, their quick tawny lives. "I fully agree with Colonel Leake, that the ruins of Assos give the most perfect idea of a Greek city that we can now find anywhere."- Schliemannapparently aristotle founded a school of philosophy at assos, in exchange for the king's niece's hand in marriage.we visited the assos acropolis, the rest of the ruins being closed for excavation. walked quite a way up narrow cobbled streets, flanked by villagers wanting to sell us lemon thyme and hand-made laces and clothes and knick-knacks.the temple of athena was of course, the main attraction, at the highest point, with a wondrous view of the isle of lesbos and the lands around. it is the earliest example of doric architecture in anatolia! i am particularly fond of doric architecture; the grandeur & solidity of the doric order vie with the intricacy & beauty of the corinthian. i must admit assos does not possess quite the rugged beauty of segesta (which i have only seen in pictures); the columns are not particularly large, and their capitals are too flat to look very strong. still it was good to be near the ruins. i have recently felt happiest while clambering around ruins under the scorching sun.there are two cisterns on the acropolis, one beside the temple, and the other lower down. this latter is surprisingly deep, perhaps almost 8 metres? just opposite it is an ottoman mosque, making use of some columns found in the area, and a marble lintel. the floor inside was lined with many many kilims, and an ill-fitting chandelier dangled from the bare ceiling.*LXXVIIHigh barrows, without marble, or a name,A vast, untill'd and mountain-skirted plainAnd Ida in the distance, still the same,And old Scamander (if 'tis he) remain;The situation seems still form'd for fame--A hundred thousand men might fight again.With ease; but where I sought for Ilion's walls,The quiet sheep feeds, and the tortoise crawls.- Lord Byronan hour's drive later we reached troy. we were admitted through the newly installed turnpikes (something about bolting the barn door after the horse has fled) and started upon the path which every tourist must these days follow. the stupid horse & the "pithos garden" were the first things we saw. then one of schliemann's trenches, and then along the troia VI walls. probably the most remarkable sight to be found in troy is the view from the roman bastion, out onto the hellespont and the trojan plain. it is easy to make out the lighthouse, the english monument and the canakkale memorial.then another schliemann trench, then the temple of athena, of which very little remains. only part of a ceiling coffer, and some palmette designs, amongst other unornamented pieces. the troy II ramp, which is reconstructed, and some way ahead, the sanctuary of athena, perhaps the most important part of the site.there are also some walls from very ancient megarons that are now sheltered under a white roof (which is apparently meant to be reminiscent of a ship's sail), but they are simply walls...then the south gate, with a waste drainage channel down the middle of the street. a little way on is another temple, opposite that, the odeon, and then the bouleterion.there remains very little that is familiar to the untrained eye, and thus i can hardly comment in any detail. troy is a confusion of peoples and constructions, all juxtaposed senselessly and confounded further by the ravages of time; the average tourist cannot come here and leave with a clear picture of one city, it is practically impossible to separate the nine layers, even with guidance. >> also, flora and fauna of troy, & the trojan oak (Quercus trojana)."I've stood upon Achilles' tomb,And heard Troy doubted; time will doubt of Rome."- Lord Byron*canakkale, walking along the prom at night, watching fireworks in eceabat, and the bright ferry. a little girl walking between her mother and father who kept asking the words -line by line- to the canakkale song and singing it after, in a happy halting voice. i hadn't thought that saddest of songs could make me smile. sitting at the tea-houses and drinking strong turkish tea and eating sunflower seeds. people looking wonderingly at my wholesome volume of byron; saying, "i heard he was an enemy of the turks, is that true?" and my hesitancy and my mincing when i want to scream, "yes, yes, maybe he was and what do i care?" turkish people have narrow understandings of nationalism. there was also a strange old man who mumbled something about, "who have the british got, but shakespeare? and it isn't even certain he existed," to which all i could do was stare with a mixture of horror and confusion.on the last day we visited tenedos; the wine factory, i was sure, would make us drunk with just its scent! but it was cool and lovely and we learnt a little about wine-making. then ayazma beach, where it is thought the greeks hid, pretending to have given up their siege of troy. a ship lies grounded there, with its stern underwater, immovable.>> and as a final note, perseus has much better pictures of assos & troy.edit: added a few more photos.