# Anyone visit Troy or Ephesus? Is it the "real" Troy? Is Ephesus boring? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 30, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-visit-troy-or-ephesus-is-it-the-real-troy-is-ephesus-boring/783355 "2017-03-30T16:21:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-visit-troy-or-ephesus-is-it-the-real-troy-is-ephesus-boring/783355/21 "2017-03-31T05:54:53Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Yeah, it’s totally walkable […] Yeah, I just realized how odd my post sounded. Renting a bicycle, like that’s an obvious thing to do. I had every intention of walking. But there happened to be bicycles available where we were staying, and my travel companion was all like, “Let’s get bikes! Let’s get bikes!” Then he zoomed off like Lance Armstrong, while I unhappily followed, more resembling one of those bicycling elephants from the circus. As I tend to do. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-visit-troy-or-ephesus-is-it-the-real-troy-is-ephesus-boring/783355/22 "2017-03-31T09:43:55Z")
> [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](#): > > How about Pamukkale? Worth it too? We were there in 2009. Totally worth it - just look at the [photos!](https://www.google.com/search?q=pamukkale+photos&tbm=isch&imgil=Q5WBTBOEtYVl2M%253A%253BfwV3GtNCJW3_MM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwallpapersdsc.net%25252Fcities%25252Fpamukkale-29346.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=Q5WBTBOEtYVl2M%253A%252CfwV3GtNCJW3_MM%252C_&usg=__-A_XRm_J7hXU2r4Hqj-R2LFIPaU%3D&biw=1920&bih=930&ved=0ahUKEwiw9KbvuYDTAhWJ5oMKHUIvBP0QyjcINQ&ei=VSTeWPD1HonNjwTC3pDoDw#imgrc=Q5WBTBOEtYVl2M:&spf=190) The town itself is not exciting, though - maybe make it a day trip from somewhere? At the archaeological site, there are also natural hot springs, which we swam in. It was lovely. Bring sturdy hiking shoes and a swimsuit. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-visit-troy-or-ephesus-is-it-the-real-troy-is-ephesus-boring/783355/23 "2017-03-31T18:48:30Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Troy sucks. Albany has much more to offer. Or better yet, go to Saratoga. Really? [Albany](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Albany,+Decatur,+AL+35601/@34.2485346,-86.4715916,8z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x8862868c42d116cb:0x881ad0212d4071c0!8m2!3d34.5967589!4d-86.9655633) and [Saratoga](https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/al/albertville/saratoga) are two pretty out of the way places in Alabama. Of course, so is [Troy](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Troy,+AL/@32.8135127,-87.0658714,8z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x888decdd008efb89:0x8bad46a15256dabe!8m2!3d31.8087678!4d-85.969951), but at least it’s the county seat. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-visit-troy-or-ephesus-is-it-the-real-troy-is-ephesus-boring/783355/24 "2017-04-01T00:56:22Z")
Ephesus is one of the most awesome places I’ve ever been. Fascinating and extensive. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-visit-troy-or-ephesus-is-it-the-real-troy-is-ephesus-boring/783355/25 "2017-04-01T01:16:32Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Is it the Troy where Achilles and Hector fought? Of course not. There was no Achilles, and no Hector. People would have said the same thing about Troy until they found it. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-visit-troy-or-ephesus-is-it-the-real-troy-is-ephesus-boring/783355/26 "2017-04-01T03:11:55Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > People would have said the same thing about Troy until they found it. I have to admit that Troy weirded me out a bit, because it seemed a bit strange to be visiting the real location of fictional events. It kind of made me start questioning my own existence. They found _something_, namely a bronze age city, most likely the same place as the ancients knew as Troy or Ilion, which was a real place. But I wish everyone would knock it off with playing up the Homeric connection so much. Despite what people might tell you, we still know jack shit about the historical events that may or may not have inspired the tales of the Trojan War. BTW, it’s not just a bronze age city. There’s tons of stuff on top of that. One thing that I only learned when I visited the site, and which surprised me, was that the ancient didn’t really lose it. The site was occupied until what, in my Roman-centric brain, feels like recently. Xerxes knew where it was. Alexander knew where it was. The Romans knew where it was, and built things there. Sulla, Caesar and Augustus went there. And it certainly seems that they thought of it as the same place as Homer’s Troy. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-visit-troy-or-ephesus-is-it-the-real-troy-is-ephesus-boring/783355/27 "2017-04-01T03:51:55Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Xerxes knew where it was. Alexander knew where it was. The Romans knew where it was, and built things there. Sulla, Caesar and Augustus went there. And it certainly seems that they thought of it as the same place as Homer’s Troy. More recent than that even. I grew up thinking Schlimann had found a site that had been lost for millenia, but apparently the site wasn’t actually lost until after the fall of Constantinople, so really only about 300 years before it was rediscovered. And as you say, the association goes back to at least the before the Greek archaic age, so while its anyone guess how much, if any, of the Homeric epic is based on anything that really happened, it seems likely that the place that Homer would’ve associated with the city he was writing about. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-visit-troy-or-ephesus-is-it-the-real-troy-is-ephesus-boring/783355/28 "2017-04-01T13:08:53Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Ephesus is one of the most awesome places I’ve ever been. Fascinating and extensive. This. I have wanted to go back for 15 years. ---
**Author:** ![pudytat72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@pudytat72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pudytat72)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-visit-troy-or-ephesus-is-it-the-real-troy-is-ephesus-boring/783355/29 "2017-04-05T22:58:46Z")
> [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](#): > > How about Pamukkale? Worth it too? Pamukkale is the one place in Turkey that I would like to see again. I thought it was amazing and beautiful. Ephesus was also interesting. My husband stood on the stage of the amphitheater and quoted verses from the book of Ephesians. I was at to top of the amphitheater recording him and could hear him perfectly without amplification. The acoustics were impressive! A strong sense of spiriutal history there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-visit-troy-or-ephesus-is-it-the-real-troy-is-ephesus-boring/783355.md?page=1)