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Published: February 12th 2020
10 Feb 2020 Istanbul - last day Just an easy day wandering around the city before we head off tomorrow for Çanakkle.
Erol, one of the owners of our accommodation, gave me a beautiful bunch of flowers this morning. That is two gifts of flowers in 4 weeks. I AM flower worthy!!!!
Knackers was super excited about the exchange rate at the Grand Bazaar this morning! We took a wander to who knows where after that. We were supposed to be heading for the Spice market. Its amazing where you end up with shortcut Shane at the helm, and often we see some really intersting things. After ending up outside Laleli mosque, a looooong way from the Spice market, we came across some ancient ruins and roman columns dating back to, well, who knows when. I read the board and I cant remember. We hopped on a tram to get back to the Spice market, which in comparison to the Grand Bazaar, is much smaller, extremely orderly and also expensive! It's well past lunch time now and there are some lovely looking restaurants under the Galata bridge to check out.
What happened next will leave you
in awe of this man's navigational skills when they are at their peak!
" Over this way, and turn right where we got off the tram", he states confidentally.
Now, I know the restaurants are to the left of the tram stop, but I'm not particularly hungry, and sometimes you just have to go with it, because otherwise we would be arguing all day about his sense of direction. Off we go, heading back to the right, and he's picked up pace. This is all starting to make sense, and then I see it. The KFC billboard shines ahead in all her neon glory, as we turn the next corner.
"Um, the restaurants are back the other way, mate", I state.
"Oh, we may as well just duck in here hey. Its nice and close!"
So after yet another KFC meal, which I insisted we share because I do not want to be remembered as Fatwoman Sweetie in Turkey as well as Morocco, we head off to see one of the more impressive mosques in the city, Sűleymaniye.
Its certainly not one of the largest Ottoman mosques, but it is one of the most
beautiful and was built in 1557. The views from here looking back to Galata are spectacular but even more spectacular from one of the rooftop cafes on the street in front of it, where you'll find any number of 20-40 year olds either taking pictures of themselves or having their friends painstakingly take pictures of them, only to have the photos scrutinised and told to take them again. And it takes forever!!! And there are people laughing at them and they still dont care, because yes, everyone thinks they're a film star these days! You look ridiculous, and you havent even washed your hair in the last week mate!I'm happy to indulge them for about 3 minutes maximum, and then I really dont care if I'm in their photo or not. I havent got all day, I just want one bloody picture!So now our bags are packed and we are off to Çanakkle tomorrow morning at 6.30am for four days.
11 Feb 2020
Istabul - Çanakkle We take off as scheduled this morning at 6.30am. I haven't had a wink of sleep, because as with most travel days, I'm always a bit paranoid that the alarm
isn't going to go off. Why? I don't know. We always set both alarms and they always go off!We have arranged to spend the afternoon visiting the Gallipoli sites from Eceabart, which is where the bus drops us, and from where we take the ferry to Çanakkle.Its a beautiful day and quite a memorable one, filled with both pride and sorrow, as we hear the stories of battles won and lost. The ferry to Çanakkle is about 20 mins, and we've checked in to our accommodation, Kinzi house, for the next 4 nights. Honestly, I'm getting a bit annoyed with peoples reviews of some accommodations. Granted, this place is more spacious than the last and it has a washing machine, and the beds, of which there are two, are a bit more comfortable, but did you miss the mould on the ceiling of the bathroom and the shower base, or that your fully equipped kitchen comes with next to nothing but a fridge, a gas burner and a few broken cups. Or even that there is rubbish under your beds or the hot water is never quite hot? How is a place like that worthy of a guest eating of
9/10?
12 Feb 2020
Çanakkale Nice relaxing day today, having booked a bus for Saturday, and a day trip to Troy for tomorrow. Knackers has popped downstairs for a pint of Ale this afternoon, and all is well.
Shane says: Bloody Sharls and her fantasies. She was hooffing it to KFC like a possessed demon. Knew the directions and all. This way, that way. Ooohhhh chicken strips. Trying to blame me for the dirty bird. She thinks she's bloody funny to boot. ? Gallipoli was a memorable day. It's on an amazing stretch of the Aegean Sea, with stunning views in 2020 as opposed to 1915. I'll leave it at that. Charles Bean tells a better story. I can't do it justice. Proud day to be an Australian though. I've wanted to go for a long time. Burak, who took the tour around the battlefields was fantastic and very knowledgeable. You can tell he spends a lot of time with Aussies. Very good humour and lots of Aussie slang. He told the stories from every countries perspective and did an amazing job. Great day.
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