http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Middle East , Turkey , Marmara , Gallipoli en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:01:57 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:01:57 BST Well We have been ahv305ng an awesome t305me here 305n Europe M305caela has been keep305ng a diary of everywhere and everything we have been doing and will post it when she has time to type for hours on end. So most likely back home.Anyway We entered Turkey today after spend305ng some t305me 305n Greece on the Island of Corfu and then Athens. Corfu was amaz305ng and w http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-292808.html I wonrsquot make this a history lesson because many of my contacts reading this are either Australian or history majors. If yoursquore interested have a look at the Australian War Memorial site .In a nutshell Anzac Day commemorates the landings of the Anzac Australian and New Zealand Army Corps troops on the far northwest coast of Turkey at dawn on the 25th of April 1915. The landings t http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-280775.html 24408A long day. It was our trio down to Gallipoli. We were killing time in morning walking around the Saltanahmet area until our tour left. We arrived at our tour office to find that we werenrsquot leaving at 12 but at 1 instead. At 1 we found out that the bus was running 30 minutes late. At 3 we were finally on our way.It usually takes about four to five hours to get to Gallipoli. It http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-276299.html Troy and Gallipoli. Two names of great significance one has been immortalised in the culture of western civilisation by an ancient Greek epic the other has been burned into the psyche of the Australian and New Zealand nations. Visiting both in the same day is quite something let me tell you.Troy was close to the hotel so we arrived after a short drive. We were the first group there but our ad http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-275865.html We arrived utterly exhausted from our tour of Egypt utterly desperate for a Laundromat to wash our clothes at. Wersquod gone for wayyyy to long without a machine wash and the old handwash in the basin was losing its effect. The family was there to meet us at the hotel and it was lovely to see them again and we couldnrsquot believe how much Kaylah had grown up since wersquove been gone. We ha http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-273578.html Okay. No matter what I say about this stop on my travels I'm not going to do it justice. But I guess I have to try This blog will be a big longer than my usual summary for those who wanted lots of details... So sorry to those with less interest and time.We arrived and took the ferry across to Carnakkale and Europe at around 7am on 24 April. The weather was clear and sunny though cold wh http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-271913.html Good Afternoon all.We have finally reach Turkey and it's much warmer. Stephen and I are just wearing one layer. I'm very excited about it. Unfortunately we have run into our first spot of bother. While flying to Istanbul from Moscow the airline has trashed Stephen's backpack. The injures incurred include a couple of holes missing and damages straps and a bent frame. We're in the process of http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-270872.html By day three Beth and I were over our 3am 5am the lsquoproperrsquo 5.30am wake up calls. Breakfast is worth mentioning just for the odd choices of cucumber pieces olives some kind of sandwich meaty looking stuff various spreads or were they dips stale precrushed cornflakes with long life milk for the British and a multitude of other things that I could not put a title to. Equippe http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-248466.html We left Istanbul early in the morning and took a 5hr bus to Eceabat. A tour guide picked us up and we set off on a PACKAGE TOUR. Kees was over the moon at having reached the highest echalon of travelers. It was a fantastic and often somber experience. We visited the museum what amazed me most was all the bullets which they had found which had hit one another in mid air. Can you imagine the i http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-213887.html We got to the anakkale Peninsula at about 3pm after a pleasant drive day and met our guide at the museum on the Gelibolu penninsula. He gave us a tactical rundown of events surrounding the Battle of Gallipoli from a Turkish perspective which was really interesting. We then went into the museum to see artifacts uniforms and weapons from the battles. It was a good intro for the afternoon and http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-206343.html Yesterday we headed south away from 304stanbul to Ecebat on the Gallipoli Peninsula.Today we're looking forward to a tour of the battlefields of Gallipoli but more about that next blog.On Sunday we braved the blazing sun to take in the Turkish Grand Prix. We were sitting on an embankment where it was 36 degrees and we had no shade. The GP was awesome though. We had a great view of several http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-196768.html So I'm back checking out another World War sight. This time it's in turkey instead of Belgium or northern France. Gallipoli This is where the British underestimated how much people are willing to fight on there own soil. The British looking to clear a way to the Black Sea to allow the Russian navy to get to the Mediterranean to help the British forces. They thought the Turks would give up as so http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-179950.html A Day on the Truck Some of you may be wondering what it would be like to take a ldquoTruck Expedition.rdquo So here is a typical day. Today most of the group was headed to visit the ruins at Ephesus so we had breakfast scheduled for 7 a.m. This means the cook group started unpacking the kitchen at 615 to cook breakfast and todayrsquos breakfast is french toast and coffee or tea so tha http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-178300.html Apparently the ancient site of Troy is somewhat of an enigma. Thought by many to be a nonexistant city only a product of Homeric poetry it was finally rediscovered and excavated by German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870's. subsequent activities have restored part of the walls etc. and now there is a giant replica of a hollow wooden horse for tourists to climb in and be photogr http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-178287.html Day 4 and 5 of Turkey. From our sleep we got woken up at 7am.. all of us were so very tired from the massive day we had through Istanbul A lot of us cough Mike cough still had hangovers. I managed to get up get myself down to the restaurant and had some breakfast a wonderful cold meat fresh vege and fruit platter with fresh bread and beautiful Turkish tea All of us who did any form of http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-163058.html I may have felt like a carrot in a cheese factory but ANZAC Day was pretty amazing. I also wore a green toque and have an orange sleeping bag if that's not like a carrot I don't know what is. To all you that are not Aussie or Kiwi I will explain a little. Australian and New Zealand Army Corps is what ANZAC stands for. They were soliders that fought in the war at Gallipoli in Turkey. You may h http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-161040.html ANZAC DAY 230407 to 250407 After arriving at Istanbul airport rather late on the 23rd it was straight to the hotel to be ready for the tour in the morning. However as usual something had to go wrong. Julie decided to play electrician with a lamp which would not work. Letrsquos just say there was a bright spark and then darkness in our hotel room. After about an hour of stuffing around http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-158730.html Well well well after the boring trip 305n Scotland we were off to Turkey for the Anzac Day service in Gallipoli and to spend three weeks travelling around Turkey seeing all the sights. We arrived in 304stanbul only to realise that we had stupidly spent all our money in the London airport on shit and had to get Turkish V305sa's oops. We had enough money for one but not for another. We w http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-157631.html Lest We Forget ANZAC Day at Gallipoli was everything we'd hoped it would be a once in a lifetime pilgrimage which really felt like a sacred journey. It was moving and aweinspiring to spend the night in that infamous cove with the impassable yellow cliffs towering behind the crowd and the dark Aegean sea stretching into the infinity in front. With everything we needed to be comfortable and not http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-154161.html Well we did the trek out to Gallipoli last week and in terms of all I have seen and done on this trip it was the most rewarding and moving experience and one that I would urge any kiwi no matter how old to do. We started out in Istanbul last Sunday what a pumping seething crazy city that is Because it was Sunday and a beautiful day there was an insane amount of people out and about. Now http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-154086.html Saturday 21 April Today we headed off from London to Istanbul with a quick stop off in Paris on the way. Arrived late in the evening and headed for our hotel. After dumping our gear we headed off to see the Blue Mosque at twilight. We then found a restaurant complete with sleazy Turkish fella's who spoke a bit of Kia Ora Sunday 22 April The rest of the tour group arrived about 40 of us i http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-153596.html Well the trip to Gallipoli has been and gone and only now are we starting to recover from both the experience and the exhaustion. We rocked up to Cannakale via Troy where there is very little left where we ferried across to Eceabat our base for Gallipoli. It was only later that we realised we had crossed from Asia into Europe A bit of an anticlimax really But we setup camp and had dinner http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-152934.html It was close to 8.00pm when the bus dropped me off in Eceabat a town near the battlefields of Gallipoli. A sign pointed to Anzac House which currently housed my tour party from FEZ. I was on crutches with a heavily sprained ankle a result of a drunken fall down a flight of steps in Rome a few weeks back. Walking through the front door I was greeted by my tour guide and the owner of the barhost http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-144596.html ldquoThos heroes that shed their blood and lost their liveshellip 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 lay side by side here in this country of ourshellip You the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears your sons are now lying in our bosom http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-142714.html I vaguely recall studying WWI in school. But it's not until you come to Gallipoli that you get a true appreciation for what the Aussies Kiwis Brits and other Allied troops fought for. It was an overwhelming experience to wander the battlefields and memorials and reflect on the horrendous loss of life. And to th305nk it may have been averted if the Brits hadn't reneged on delivering 2 battles http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-99846.html 23rd April. Said bye to Rachel and joined my ANZAC Australian and New Zealand Army Corp Tour. On the way out of Istanbul I saw dolphins again in the Bosphorus while the tour leader gave us some interesting facts like3 of Turkey is European leaving 97 Asian The population is 70million and 14million live in Istanbul Holland population andThere are 35000 historical sites in the country. Fo http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-75525.html This place leaves you lost for words. It is the proudest we have ever been to be a New ZealanderThose heroes that shed their blood And lost their liveshellip 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 ourshellip You the mothers Who sent the http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-70137.html Hello EveryoneToday we got up early at 0530 to catch the bus to Gallipoli. We stopped at Eceabat for Lunch. After Lunch we visited all the Gallipoli Sites such as Proposed Landing Beach Anzac Cove Lone Pine and visited many cemeterys and saw the grave of John Simpson Kirkpatrick Man with the Donkey. We saw both Turkish and Allied Trenches. It was interesting it bought many sad emotions to m http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-55093.html Met some we305rdos no 305 mean really n305ce people.....that we went on the tour w305th. Georg305a Mark Ash Ryan Ben and Karen. the day started off w305th us be305ng p305cked up and travell305ng across the Dardanells and hav305ng lunch at qu305te a n305ce restaurant. our tour gu305de whos engl305sh was qu305te good told us about the h305story o http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-51543.html