Canakkale is the principal city of the northwest Turkish province of the same name. The province lies on both sides of the Dardanelles strait, which connects the the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. One part of the province lies in Asia Minor, the other in Europe. The city has been strategically significant for millenia as a crossover point of migrants, traders and armies.
The Persian king Xerxes crossed in 481 B.C. and Alexander the Great did so about 150 years later. The Ottoman armies crossed over to invade Europe. The area witnessed one of the costliest battles of World War I at Gallipoli. Visitors frequently arrive by ferry to Canakkale to view the nearby battlefields and war memorials.
Another visitor draw near Canakkale is fabulous Troy. Homer bestowed unending fame upon Troy in his accounts of Hector, King Priam, Paris and fair Helen. A modern Trojan horse stands there as the greatest symbol of the fabled war. The Canakkale Archaeology Museum houses artifacts from Troy and also finds dating to the Bronze Age.