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Published: April 25th 2007
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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 in total) and we headed off for a cruise of the Bosphorous. Half way through the cruise we had a poor excuse for a belly dancer come up onto the top deck and try to perform what she tried to pass off as a traditional belly dance. In fact, what it was was a dance from a Turkish stripper! She rubbed herself up against all the men on the boat and demanded money from them... down her top no less!
In the afternoon we all headed off to a Turkish Bath. When we arrived we were all shaking in our booting as we were being eyed up by a load of half naked Turkish Geezers, but were soon to find
out we were going to an all female Bath. We got there and got stripped down and drowned with warm water in the steam room. Then on to the scrub down (in the middle of 20 or so giggling girls who were all embarrassed about sitting around topless!) Then on to the massage, and finally a hair wash before being drowned with cold water to finish. A lovely experience, if not a little strange!
Monday 23 April -
Today we received out wakeup call at 0430 and headed off to the Gallipoli Peninsula, to see a War Museum, the catch our first glimpse of Anzac Cove, before heading up to Lone Pine and Chunuk Bair (the Australian & NZ Memorials). It was quite nice being there and having a look around without all the hoards of people. TV3 also interviewed us, although not sure if they aired it, as our answers were probably a bit dumb!
This evening we drove down to the coast and got on the ferry across to Canakkale (from the European Continent to the Asian Continent) and then headed off to our resort in Edremit. We had a lovely pool out front right on
the beach with a bar which was all very lovely.
Tuesday 24 April -
First thing in the morning our coach headed off to some random little village where we looked around an odd little museum, and then on to a rug factory. The owner of the factory then poured his foul tasting red wine down our necks before trying to convince us to buy US$1000 rugs, for which I have no house for!
In the afternoon we went back to the resort and lounged by the pool for a few hours. Then around 5pm we went and packed and prepared to leave… but not before filling up on a lovely Turkish buffet style dinner. We then headed back to Canakkale to board the ferry to the Gallipoli Peninsula.
The whole idea of arriving at Anzac Cove the night before is to make sure you get a good spot on the grass so you can have some sleep… as it is a looong night without it. We arrived as bus number 117. After some quick maths we worked out that there were approximately 5000 people there already which meant there was not going to be a good
spot left - ANYWHERE! So we sat in the grand stands on the edge overlooking the sea. The bonus of that was that we could see the stage very well, and were kept entertained all night with what was happening on the big screen. Down side of course was that we could not sleep at all.
Wednesday 25 April -
At about 4.45 am the “show” started with what is called the Spirit of Place. Each year at the Anzac Day Commemorations a NZ, Australian or Turkish composer is invited to contribute an original score to a symphony, which will mark the centenary commemorations in 2015. As the composition was played, big spot lights touched battle sights in the surrounding hills - it was a very surreal experience, and to my surprise the 12,000 people there were all deadly quiet during this time.
At about 5.30am the dawn service commenced, which didn’t last longer than 45 minutes. Winston Peters was the Representative from NZ - he made a really nice speech, even if it did seem as though he was half asleep.
After the Dawn Service all the kiwis there started the 3.5km trek up to Chunuk
Bair, the highest point on the ridge and the site where the NZ memorial is. Needless to say we were rather buggered when we reached the top and needed a bit of a sit down. We had about 4 hours until the NZ Service, but managed to get a very good spot in the stands so we were quite happy to sit and relax for a bit (it was also quite nice to be away from the Aussie contingent for a few hours!)
The NZ Service was really nice… I don’t think I have ever heard the NZ Anthem sang so loud and with so much pride - it made me very proud to be a New Zealander.
So that’s about it… the rest of the trip was getting back to Istanbul, having a HUGE nights sleep (after not having slept for about 40 hours) And then having a bit of a shopping expedition in the Grand Bazaar before flying back to London.
After living in London for the past 2 years and travelling for about 4 years I would have to say that this is probably the most amazing trip I have been on. Well worth
the effort if ever you get the opportunity....... :-)
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Jojo
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AWESOME!
Hi Renee, WOW that was fantastic I am so jealous of you going to do that. After all our travelling it is certainly one regret we have for not going to Gallipoli. Good on you ;0) And Im sure the lack of sleep was all worth it!! Also glad to hear you got back to London in one piece! Love Jo, Antho and Kalan xoxo