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Published: August 22nd 2013
Hello my fellow travellers!
After a short, yet good, night's sleep at Meltem's apartment in Canakkale I made my way down to the harbour together with Meltem and Halil who both decided to come along with me. They gave me the advice to go to Edirne from Eceabat instead of from Canakkale to save both time and money. Eceabat is a town on the other side of the Dardanelles that I passed through yesterday on my way to Canakkale. I remember seeing a very interesting memorial to the Gallipoli Battle there and figured that with some luck I might be able to pay it a visit.
We walked all the way down, enjoying the cool morning breeze and early sun. On the way we stopped and checked out the Trojan Horse, I saw it yesterday but it was so dark that it was hard to get a good look at it. On our way there we passed the Freedom Park where I got a nice view of the beautiful surroundings. Down in the harbour we stopped for some breakfast before me and Halil went into Cimenlik Fortress. Meltem chose to stay outside since she's been there many times before.
Entrance is 5 TRY and that also gives you access to the replica of the minelayer Nusret. I think that is a really good price, especially considering the great lengths that the staff at both the Cimenlik Fortress and the Nusret has gone through to make is an authentic experience!
The fortress was really nice and the staff gave a very moving performance depicting the reality of the life of the Ottoman soldiers in World War I. I couldn't understand it since it was in Turkish (I do know some Turkish which I use to dazzle those I meet here, but it's at a very basic level). However, the performance given here didn't need spoken language to be understood, it spoke it's own language that all understand. Especially since I have been in the army myself I could at some level connect to the feeling of the soldiers huddled in the mud with the bullets whistling around them. The performance was so powerful that one of the other visitors even broke down in tears.
After we had been on the tour of the fortress we took a tour of the Nusret, this was also nicely done with all
staff clad in fitting clothing. Inside was a really good depiction of the events of the naval assault in the Dardanelles during February and March 1915. This was an engagement where both Cimenlik Fortress and Nusret played a key part in withstanding repeated assault by British and French naval forces, causing heavy losses to them.
When we were done here me and Halil went back out to Meltem who was still waiting for us. While waiting she had actually arranged a tour for me of the Gallipoli Battlefields so we took a ferry across to Eceabat and I just managed to catch the tour and they even promised to have me back in time for the bus to Edirne! So I said a heartfelt goodbye to Meltem and Halil and off I went! I can't believe how lucky I have been on this part of my journey!
The tour was really nice, it cost 60 TRY and I'd say that it was easily worth it! For one it's actually quite some distance to reach the different points of interests so it's hard to do it on your own. On top of that the guide was really good and
knowledgeable and it felt like he really cared about his work to keep the information about this campaign alive. This made the tour highly enjoyable and it definitely gets my highest recommendation. I got to see many interesting things and hear many fascinating stories about the ANZAC and Turkish men who fought and died in this battle. We visited a battery where a Turkish soldier managed to lift a several hundred pound ordinance by himself when the situation called for it to keep the massive batteries firing!
I got to see the point where the ANZAC troops landed by mistake after a failed navigation, a mistake that had them advance through some of the toughest terrain imaginable. I stood inside the old trenches where broken pieces of wood still remain to this day. I got to go to the furthest point that the ANZAC troops reached and I learned that if they had just managed to take that last hill the Turkish troops would have been destroyed. I also got to visit several war cemeteries, both for ANZAC and Turkish troops and I learned that after the war the combatants on both sides met and gave their recollection of
the battle. They even came together and helped each other to find and identify the fallen.
After the tour we got back in good time and since the bus to Edirne was delayed I also managed to visit the Respect for History Park where there is a really powerful arrangement of statues depicting the Battle of Gallipoli, I really recommend a visit to it, it will never leave your memory!
We arrived in Edirne as scheduled and I had planned to go to the centre to check out the mosque which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful in Turkey. However, when we arrived it was already pitch black so I decided to stay at the station and so I made my way over to the ticket office to get the ticket for Sofia. And that's when things got weird. There is no buses leaving from Edirne bus-station in the evenings, they leave from a place outside the city called Arslan something. I ask how I get there and he says that I have to take a small bus to the centre and then a taxi.
Bloody brilliant I think. So, what will that cost
I ask. Maybe 40 TRY he replied. Awesome, that's the same amount as the actual ticket, lovely. Anyway, I decide to go with it and purchase the ticket for 40 TRY. Turns out that their VISA terminal is down, do I have any cash? No! He says I can buy it on the bus though.
So I make it down to the centre, withdraw money, find a taxi, it's 35 TRY to go to Arslan which turns out to be a hotel and I get some Döner Kebab while I wait. Then I find out that the company going to Sofia is not the one mentioned at the bus station but another one. I talk to the driver and he writes me a ticket after I explain the situation. It ends up costing me 50 TRY instead though. So, for a trip that should have costed me 40 TRY I end up paying, with withdrawal fees included, around 110 TRY. That does kinda sucks when you travel on a budget. Even so, with the amount of good luck I've had on this trip I can't complain!
Anyway, I finally got on the bus and it turns out that
the arrival time is Sofia is not the 7.30 am I was told at first but 5 am. I'm not sure that's true though, at the moment I am a bit sceptical and taking things with a grain of salt. At least I managed to contact Georg whom I'm staying with in Sofia so he knows when and where I arrive and he's given me information how to get to him through the metro.
Tomorrow morning I will arrive in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria and for the first time of the trip I will pass between two different nations, not the Balkan part of this trip will begin!
Until tomorrow I wish you all peace and happy travels!
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Blood Ties
We celebrate ANZAC Day in Oz as a coming of age for our young country. A public holiday to remember a bloody defeat at the hands of the Turks seems strange. Yet it means many things to many people. To me there is a plaque in Hyde Park in Sydney from Attaturk himself that brings me to tears each time - "Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives . . . You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours . . . You, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace, after having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well." ATATURK, 1934 (Inscription in Turkish) 1881 - 1938 MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATURK President Of The Republic Of Turkey