cowbag

Very amusing review - thank you! gives a flavour of what to expect :)

Thanks for the comments, and glad to have been of help - I too have got lots of info from these boards when planning my trips so hope I have put something back. Having just re-read my post though I'm really sorry for all the typos and spelling mistakes - I was in a rush! Hope you all enjoy this lovely port, it wa a highlight for me.

Ok folks well Im back from my fabulous Ancient Wonders Cruise, and as promised here's my info on Bozcaada and Troy. We took the ship's trip as it was too complicated to organise ourselves. It was the right choice. This is how it went: Its a tender port and this was only the 2nd time that Thomson Spirit went there and no other cruise ships go apparently so the island is pretty excited to welcome all the guests.

We met in the Broadway lounge at 8 am and got off the ship first tender 8:30. Very short walk round the port to the car ferry to travel from Bozcaada island to the mainland (the ferry did involve some very steep steps - but once up on top desk there were plenty of seats both indoors and out and a cafe bar, even with 3 coachfuls of passengers).

By 9 am we were on the mainland baording one of the 3 coaches waiting for us. Its a rural area and there were no taxis or buses in evidence for indepedent travellers. I dont know how often the ferry runs, but once on mainland you would be stuck, unless you'd pre-arranged some transport. Took about 30 minutes in the coach to get to Troy, travelling via canakkale and an agricultural area with lots of small villages.

It was about an 800 meter walk round the site of Troy. The wooden horse is what you see first which is good for photos, then the guide took us round the site, very leisurley walk. It is mainly ruins, with some "reconstruction" but not much so you need some imagination. The guide was excellent and said a few times he wasnt used to such a big group (around 40 of us) but he managed well. It wasnt crowded and we could hear what he said. I'm a but limited on where and how far I can walk but found this very manageable. There were lots of benches and trees for shade along the way. There are some steps. Also some well constructed viewing platforms, with handrails - all felt very safe and well-constructed.

There's an official museum shop, nice clean loos, and a cafe on site which the guide said was expensive but I thought the stuff was reasonable and good quality. We left the site at 12 and stopped off 5 minutes later at a roadside cafe/shop which the guide was was cheaper but I dont think so - T shirts were 25 or 30 TL at both places. We stayed 20 minutes, and by 1:30 we were back at the mainland port. Confirmed there are no cafes or taxis here. The ferry left immediately to take us back to Bozcaada. Then we spent a few hours looking round the very pretty town. There was a craft fair on - I got the impression all the vilagers had come our to sell their ware to the cruise passengeres. There were many cafes with literally 100's of table and chairs outside so I got the impression this island may be very busy in the high season (I was there in May, and apart from the cruise passengeres there were very few tourists around) so maybe it would be easier to travel to Troy then.

So after a leisurely stroll around and buying some lovely wine at a little supermarket, we got the tender back to the Spirit for afternoon tea. So we had a fantastic day and saw both Troy and Bozcaada without havng to orry about getting back on time. Fantastic. Really enjoyed the day, and definitely a trip worth taking. We didnt take any other trips at the other ports - we did them all independently (Istanbul/Athens/Ephesus etc) which again was the right decision for us.:)

Thanks all for your responses. I had a good reply on Tripadvisor with bus timetable etc and its looking like a major expedition so think the organised tour is in order. Hopefully we'll have time to explore the island too so I'll report back on my return! Thanks again for the interest.

Hello we're joining Thomson Spirit on 18 May for the Ancient Wonders cruise. One of the stops is a Turkish island Bozcaada which looks lovely but they are offering an excursion to Troy on the mainland which we'd like to do. But we usually do trips independently using either HOHO buses or public transport or occasionally a taxi. So please can anyone advise me on the doability of a trip to Troy or should I just join the Thomsons organised trip? Or perhpas not bother at all? Struggling to find anything on the internet, so hope a previous traveller can help me out. Many thanks.