The strait connecting the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean Sea known as the Dardanelles (Çanakkale in Turkish) is one of the most strategic waterways in the world. It is the only outlet of the Black Sea nations to worldwide shipping lanes has the Biga Peninsula on one side and the Gallipoli Peninsula on its western shore.

The lands on either side of the Dardanelles have seen conflicts and the collapse of many civilizations, from the Persians invading Greece to Alexander the Great, the King of Macedonia, starting his invasion of Anatolia by first passing through the Dardanelles. Later, the Allied Armies invaded in an attempt to seize Constantinople.

About thirty minutes from Çanakkale, the national park containing the ruined city Troy, where the Trojan War that Homer recounted in The Iliad took place, is located on top of a hill overlooking the Dardanelles. The first excavation of the ancient city was made in 1870 during Ottoman times. Thirty three layers belonging to seven different time periods have since been discovered.

Learn more about the brutal events of World War I at the Gallipoli battlefields, visiting memorial sites and the historically significant city of Troy.