Concept

Çanakkale

Summary
Çanakkale (pronounced tʃaˈnakkale), ancient Dardanellia (Δαρδανέλλια), is a city and seaport in Turkey on the southern shore of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. It is the seat of Çanakkale Province and Çanakkale District. Its population is 557,256 (2021). Çanakkale is the nearest major urban centre to the ancient city of Troy, which (together with the ancient region of the Troad) is also located inside Çanakkale Province. The wooden horse from the 2004 movie Troy is exhibited on the Çanakkale waterfront. Today Çanakkale is the main base for visits to the ruins of Troy and to the First World War cemeteries at Gallipoli. Particularly around 18 March and 25 April (ANZAC Day) when there are major celebrations of the two different interpretations of the events of the war the town fills with visitors and every hotel room is likely to be booked up for months in advance. Every year Çanakkale is the finishing point for a demanding swim across the Dardanelles from Eceabat. This event reproduces the swim taken by Lord Byron in 1810. Byron himself was reproducing Leander's legendary swim from Sestos to Abydos in the story of Hero and Leander. Çanakkale Airport (CKZ) is 3 km from the city centre. AnadoluJet and Borajet have daily flights from Istanbul and Ankara. Intercity buses run to Bursa, Istanbul and Izmir. In 2022 the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge opened just to the south of Çanakkale to facilitate and speed the crossing of the Dardanelles. Çanakkale was originally the site of an Ottoman fortress called Ḳalʿa-i Sulṭānīye (قلعهٔ سلطانیه; Sultaniye Kalesi). From the late 17th century it became known for its glazed Çanakkale ceramics, compared by the traveler Richard Pococke to Delftware, hence the later name Çanak Kalesi "Pottery Castle". This was adopted as the official term for the town in 1890, although already in use a century earlier. The Greek-Byzantine name for Çanakkale was Dardanellia, from which the English name Dardanelles is derived. Many accounts by 19th-century visitors to the town refer to it as Dardanelles.
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