In Anzac territory - on tour in Turkey,,

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Whoops, sorry we thought this bit about Turkey touring had been posted it was completed prior to leaving for Italy. Here goes,

The tour we took began in Istanbul with a walking tour of the blue Mosque, various ancient land marks and the ancient palace of Topkapi all located in a central area on the heights of the city over looking the bospshorous straights and the bridges connecting Europe with Asia.

Mustafa the guide was an ex international banker and top family man, he took to Ben and Julia immediately and was great at making the amazing historic realities of Istanbul, Turkey and the area come alive for them, later we found out he had set up the english guiding options at Istanbul university. Fantastic chap.

Needless to say the whole background and reality of the strategic area modern Turkey occupies, its borders with so many countries and the challenges of what is happening in them became very real.

The second day we left Istanbul to travel by bus up to the Galipoli peninsular. As the only Kiwis on the bus with Aussies and a few american adults, the kids were adopted quickly and this day took on a whole new look when we started looking and walking round the key Anzac sites.
The whole Galipoli area is a national park and treated extremely well in a very balanced way by the Turks, considering these guys repelled us as a invading force all those years ago!

This day unusally we were one of only two tours on the go. It was very quiet and very moving as this seeming idyllic piece of coast and craggy beaches, lapped as it is by a clear green / blue agean sea was wandered over by our group and the various memorials and war graves discovered. As the afternoon wore on clouds slowly rolled in and as we fittingly completed our tour at the highest point of the monuments, the sacred ground of Chunuk Bair, where a massive NZ memorial stands alongside a Turkish one as the Kiwis were the only foreign soldiers ever to have reached this strategic summit in Turkish history ( they occupied it after a fierce battle holding it desperately for 2 days and nights) Ben and I explored the trench system and walked off the summit as a gentle rain started to fall on the whole area, moving, educational, futile, impressive, respectful and deeply grateful to the young Kiwi guys who had the courage to attempt the impossible at the requests of the ignorant and arrogant.

We went on to cross the Dardanelles by ferry to a great night in the city of Channakale and then a tour of the ancient city of Troy the following day before heading back to Istanbul. Turks really value family and kids and the more we saw and experienced of this historically modern complex country the more we wanted to see. 90% moslem and defying any cliche view of what that means in news headline type views that are often portrayed.

Bens views:

The tour was fantastic the things that interested me most were the Sultans sword and armour collection Galipoli and the Trojan ruins.
In Galipoli hearing of the simple mistakes the leaders made and seeing the costs to Kiwis particularly after they were dropped on the wrong beach and then securing Anzac cove despite this, was awesome. The tour to the city of Troy was great particularly as the Trojan city was built up over 3000 years by 9 different periods of occupation and we got to walk around the actual ruins and then to realise their civilisation had died out even after generations of peace.

Julias view:

I really liked the Blue Mosque because of the amazing colours and art shapes they made. The castle where we saw fantastic jewel collections of the Sultans including the 3rd largest diamond in the world. It was very interesting to actually stand on beaches and places in Galipoli that our soldiers had been and we had looked at in school. They were tough and I was pleased we still remember them.

Lest we forget, Kia Kaha
The Woodhams

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Comments

[Kerre and Tom]

God, you guys write well! What amazing observations - I can't wait to visit for myself - you've really brought it alive. Love us