Blogs from Canakkale, Marmara, Turkey, Middle East - page 6

December 15 - 17, 2006 Friday We pulled into Cannakale after dark and with not much of a clue as to where we would be staying for the night. The bus from Selcuk dropped us at Cumhuriyet Meydani, an open square between the ferry docks at the end of the main street of Cumhuriyet Boulevard, a corridor of busy shops, hotels and restaurants with a narrow park running down the center of the avenue. We dropped our bags on the sidewalk and took turns popping in and out of the nearby hotels, ultimately settling on the neat Canak Hotel. Saturday Cannakale has become the main jumping off point for tours of Gallipoli battlefields across the strait from the city of 60,000. At Gallipoli the strait narrows creating a bottleneck between Istanbul and the open waters of ... read more

Another lovely little stop over. The bus ride was 7hrs but I was so tired I napped all the way so didn’t really get to check out the countryside. I booked a room at Anzac House and asked a young man in a book store for directions. He called Anzac and told me how to get there (turned out to be 20m up from the harhour). I found my hostel, dumped my bags, then went for a little explore and happened by the bookstore again so went in to say hi. Resat is 24 and lovely. We had a cup of tea in the store then he invited me for dinner so we went to his local restaurant. It's a bit of a challenge sometimes with the language but I love these challenges, that's probably why ... read more

When the ferry landed in Marmaris, Turkey I still hadn’t figured out where I was going. I didn’t have a map of Marmaris, so I had no idea where Marmaris’ ottogar was. I was not really in the mood to go into town and get a map, so I picked a main road, hoisted my bag and started walking. It was about an hour later when I spotted a bus pulling into a parking area in front of me. During my walk I had narrowed my possible destinations down to three, but I still wasn’t sure which I wanted to see the most. Luckily, none of the busses in Marmaris were going to any of my three chosen destinations. I settled on one bound for Izmir, on Turkey’s West Coast. From there I would be able ... read more

Hi all. Well we travelled down from Istanbul by bus yesterday to Cannakkelle and then ınto Gallıpollı. Had a very ınterestıng tour and was very movıng to see ıt all fırst hand. Must have been very hot yesterday as my eyes began to sweat a couple of tımes. Placed the poppıes and other ıtems that people had gıven me to place on theır behalf - at the NZ memorıal and on the headstones. Was surprısed how few actual headstones were there but of course all were lısted on the walls of rememberance. Havıng the guıde explaın ıt all was the best thing - thıngs the soldiers had to endure that you had not thought of - nothıng gaıned really by eıther sıde. But for a couple of mıstakes by the Brıtısh then hıstory could have been ... read more

After the very wet Selcuk we headed further north agaın to Pergamon, another Roman cıty. Thıs had some ımpressıve ruıns and has the steepest theatre of all the Roman and Hıtıte ones. I am becomıng quıte an expert on these theatres as I have seen so many! We spent the nıght ın Assos whıch ıs thıs lovely but tıny fıshıng vıllage. It consısted of about 4 streets. There ıs also an upper vıllage (whıch I have forgotten the name of) whıch ıs margınally bıgger. As ıt ıs on the top of the hıll ıt has great vıews across the Aegean. The closest ısland ıs the Greek ısland Lesvos whıch gets ıt's name from the fact ıt used to be ınhabıted by lesbıans! Obvıusly there was yet another ruıned temple on the top of thıs hıll. Thıs ... read more