Selçuk to Çanakkale

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We had been hoping to do a day trip to Pergamum today but as the peak season is over and there was no-one else wanting to do it it wasn't possible, so we settled for bookıng a bus straight to Çanakkale (vıa İzmır). We packed up (one at a time in our tiny room), ate another good breakfast and then made the short walk to the bus station, where the bus company man was waiting for us with our ticket.

The first part of the journey was in a small bus that took us to İzmir to meet up wıth the main bus. Fellow travellers included an Aussie couple who've been living overseas (Hong Kong and then US) for many years and their 12 year old daughter. They are doing a bit of travellıng before relocatıng back to Melbourne for theır daughter to start high school. At the bus station in İzmir the drıver took us to the Truva offıces where our vouchers were exchanged for tıckets, then out to where our bus would depart from. It wasn't too long before our bus arrived and we were on our way. İzmir must be a very industrial city, or we just struck it on a bad day - the air pollution was terrible. We were glad when we got back out into the countryside. We headed north, sometımes with the Aegean Sea on our left and after another hour or so saw the turn-off to Bergama / Pergamum, which was not too far away, but our bus then headed left (west) for awhile, agaın along the coast and finally north again, over the hills until we reached the shores of the Dardanelles, which we followed til we reached Çanakkale. The whole trıp took us about 5 or 6 hours. We disembarked at the ferry wharf in Çanakkale, our friends were headıng straight across to Eceabat, but we were booked for two nights here in Çanakkale, so went off to find our hotel, the Kervansaray, which was not too far away.

After checking in and dumpıng all our luggage in our room, we asked for advice about a place for a light lunch (by now it was about 3:30 or so pm), and were pointed to a place just up the street called Git Git. Seemed a bit like a Turkish fast food place, but had a very nice chicken lavash wrap and sandwich for just a few lira each. We then took a stroll through the old streets of Çanakkale, the main one of which is pedestrians only. Of course lots of people around, but nice to just wander and look. Even our hotel is in a very old, very narrow street where you wonder how the cars can fit down (it is one-way).

Had a quick look at the water front and then found ourselves at the naval museum, which is set by the water and has a massive park and an old fortress as well as the naval stuff. It was supposed to be closed on Thursdays but as we wandered in through the gate we were approached by a man in uniform who turned out to be the Commander of the base. He was a very lovely man whose first name I thınk was Can (pron Jarn). He was waiting for the arrival of a group of American visitors whom he was going to give a tour and after chatting for a while invited us to join his tour. He had someone brıng us a cup of çay while we waited, but when about half an hour later they still hadn't arrived, he arranged for one of his translators (a young woman) to take us on the tour of the ship.

The ship was a replica of the minelayer called Nimret, which played a crucial part in the naval battles with the British and Frnech of 1915 which preceded the land battle at Gallipoli. On board the ship we watched a visual display, complete with commentary in English through headphones to explained the whole naval battle, in which the Turkish effectively defended the Dardanelle straits and prevented the allies from reaching Istanbul. Then we toured the rest of the ship, which has a whole lot of displays set up to show what it would have been like for the crew - the bunk room, captain's cabin, sick bay, galley and mess, bridge, etc etc. All very interesting.

When we had completed our tour of the ship, the translator handed us over to another young woman (the other translator), who took us for a tour of the fortress. This was also a really interesting place, having been built a number of centuries ago by a Sultan to enable him to guard the straits and charge taxes for foreign ships using the waterway. There is another one on the opposite shore, and several others at strategic points along the Dardanelles. They were also a significant part of the naval battles of 1915. We saw some of the cannons and other weapons used in the fortresses, and the place where a British shell actually hit the fort - the hole is in the wall and apparently the shell, which didn't explode at the time, is still in there, although deactivated. Upstairs in the "castle" were more displays relating to both the sea and land battles for Gallipoli (the land campaign only started after they failed in their bid to break through the defences by ship and three Allied ships were sunk and more disabled). All in dimmed lighting, with displays of different Turkish and ANZAC scenes and powerful messages about how awful it all was, but about how important to remember and learn. Turkey the country only came into existence after this war, and the people are very proud and pay great respect to Ataturk, who was a hero of the Gallipoli campaign and the founder of their nation.

After we finished our tour and thanked our translators and the Commander, we wandered back towards our hotel, had a shower and then went for a walk in the other direction - along the waterfront. By now it was dark, but there were heaps of people out walking along the promenade, and as well as lots of cafes and restaurants, there were stalls selling corn, mussels, icecream etc. We walked right along to the other end of the promenade, where there was a big tea garden, and back again. We found a restaurant mentioned in Lonely Planet called Rhitim. Not many people there, but we decided to try it, and were rewarded with fresh Bonito, an in season, locally caught fish, which we chose from a display case out the front, and it was delicious.

Back in our room we ended up closing the windows to reduce the noise from a night club somewhere nearby, but had a good night's sleep.

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