Troy was built nine times, all on the same site. It stayed on the original site because it allowed control of the Dardanelles, which let Troy tax all the goods going up an down the Dardanelles, which made Troy very rich. It was rebuilt nine times because it was destroyed eight times, mostly by people who didn’t want to pay a tax to Troy.

The archeological site is a mess because Heinrich Schliemann was a greedy man. It took him years, but he found Troy in 1870. He didn’t care about archeology. He wanted the gold and jewels. He bought a village and paid the people to dig. One lucky day he personally found the gold. He told the workers to knock off early, then spent the rest of the day and the entire night getting the gold, then left for Germany. It is not recorded what the villagers thought when they came to work the next day to find Schliemann no longer present.

Here’s an old wall at Troy. The holes were created by bees living i the mud brick.

Turkey is a big country. We’ve spent a ton of time riding in the bus, and we have another four hours or so tomorrow. The pervious several days have been unusually hot, with highs in the mid-90s. Today, the heat wave broke, making touring a much more pleasant experience.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.