Turkey

---

So we have both become quite slack...again...and now we have two mammoth trips to report on!

On Saturday 18th April I woke at the crack of dawn to embark on my first tour on my own (it's Di!). As Rob had already been to Turkey during his last stay over here I really wanted to go, in particular to visit Gallipoli and pay my respects on Anzac Day.

I got to Heathrow fairly early and checked in quicker than I ever have before, leaving me with two hours to twiddle my thumbs and get some caffiene and trash mags to read on the plane! I flew with Turkish Airlines for the first time and apart from a pretty dodgy landing I was quite impressed with the facilities and the airline itself.

I got off the plane and went through to get my visa and some cash out before keeping an eye out for lots of people dressed in yellow - I was going on tour with the Fanatics! Not much longer later I was in a bus and on my way to the hostel in Istanbul which was going to be home for the next two nights! As I was travelling on my own I ended up having to stay in the dorm room called 'The Harem', it had 20 beds! Thank god I brought my eye mask and ear plugs...the beer helped aiding sleep as well! That afternoon I got chatting to another girl and we went and walked around the city centre and up to the Blue Mosque before wandering down the Grand Bazaar to check out all the shopping! After spending a couple of hours wandering the maze that is the bazaar and eating an obligatory kebab (first of many) we headed back to the hostel for what was the opening night party! Many beers later I realised that somehow after only sending about 3 text messages all my phone credit was gone....this was the first of several things to go wrong!

The next morning I woke up with a semi sore head but was relieved that I actually slept through the whole night and the noise that comes with sleeping in a room with 19 other people! I got some breakfast and decided I needed to get some money out so I headed to the ATM with another girl I had met and thats when the next shock realisation happened.....my bankcard was missing.. If I had been travelling with someone else I probably would have just cried but I didn't have anyone like that to turn to, so in a way it made me more resilient. Thank god Rob convinced me to get a credit card before we left Australia...it saved me! So we rushed back to the hostel and informed the tour leader what had happened...had to buy a phone card then go through the long winded business of cancelling my card...the only place I can recall having my card out was at the airport..thank goodness it was only a debit card! I tried not to dwell on it and off we headed on a day of sightseeing in Istanbul. Our first stop was Ayasofya which was initially a Basilica then a Mosque and now it is a Museum, but unfortunately its beauty is hampered by continued restorations and renovations so the scaffolding took away some of the excitement. Our next stop was Topkapi Palace which was amazing. It was the home of the Ottoman for some 400 to 600 years (photos can show more than my bad descriptions!)Our next stop was lunch...and you guessed it..another kebab!

After lunch we walked past the blue mosque which was unfortunately closed to the public due to a huge mass which was taking place to honour a past president. I have never ever seen so many thousands and thousands of people praying before...the whole mosque and outdoor area and adjoining parks were packed to the rafters with people praying. We then visited the Underground Cistern which was eerie and beautiful at the same time...photos will show more!

Afterward we walked down to the river and went for a boat cruise for a couple of hours which sent everybody to sleep! Got back to the hostel and went to my backpack only to realise that somehow it had fallen over (or more like somebody had knocked it over!) and my almost 3/4 full bottle of perfume had smashed and gone through more than half of my clothes! It was at this point that I just thought it couldn't get any worse so I just laughed it off. Had met some nice people by this point and went for a few quiet drinks and a sheesha as we had to be up at 6am for a mammoth bus journey to Pamukkale in the morning.

The bus trip the next day was long....very very long and stuffy...broken air conditioner...driving in turkish time...I chose a seat in the very back and claimed it for the entire tour and was happy being a backseat bandit! They told us it would take us about 9 hours...they lied....13 hours later we were almost there!

Had a relaxing night at the hotel before getting up the next morning and heading to the ancient city of Hierapolis and the calcium terraces and thermal spa. Pamukkale means "Cotton Castle" and its not hard to see where the name comes from. The mountains are adorned in limestone deposits which formed there..it looks like snow and you can take your shoes off and walk in the pools and along the limestone...was incredible!

We then drove to the city of Pergamom which was home to another ancient ruins, something that you can never grow old of seeing. Unfortunately the preservation of the ancient ruins in Turkey is not as well kept as other countries but in a way it seems more real.

From there we headed to the town of Kusadasi which would be our home for the next two nights. The hotel we stayed in was amazing and also full board...breakfast and dinner buffets with all the trimmings!

We went to Troy the next day which was incredible and again the pictures tell the story. After a day of sightseeing a visiting a ceramic and leather factory we went out for a night on the town with the tour groups which was lots of fun!

I am now typing the remainder of this entry (most of which I typed in June) in August so unfortunately my memory has become somewhat hazy!

We spent a night in Ayvalik as merely a stopover point to Gallipoli. We had an early rise the next morning and made our way on the coach to the ferry over to Gallipoli. This is where the troubles began..

As we were making our way down the motorway a few of the guys were looking at eachother with concerned faces and I didn't give it too much thought until we began driving up a steep incline and this horrible smell of a burning clutch swept through the bus. Luckily the bus driver found somewhere to pull over but there was no way we were going any further in this bus!

After waiting a couple of hours we were lucky enough to organise another bus which came and picked us up, the poor bus driver of the broken down bus had to wait with his bus and he said that he was going to have to wait something like 10 hours to be picked up, in the middle of nowhere, on a hill. Poor guy.

So we were on our way again and of course we had missed our ferry but luckily enough we were able to board a later one with no problems. We then made our way to Gallipoli and went for a brief look at Lone Pine, the Turkish memorial and Chunuk Bair before we went through security before finding some space on the grass to set up our sleeping bags for the evening.

The afternoon and night went so quickly considering we were sitting around and the weather was getting cooler. I went and sat on the beach were the troops landed and stayed there for about an hour. It was quite a moving experience. After grabbing some dinner we all settled in and throughout the night they had some emotional tributes and videos and at around 4am we were all asked to stand.

The dawn service itself was very emotional and it is something that you need to see for yourself to understand. As the sun rose I felt proud to be an Australian.

After the dawn service everyone made their way along paths which were once walked by troops and we walked up to Lone Pine for the Australian memorial whilst the Turks and the Kiwis made their way to their respective memorials. The Australian memorial was also very moving and something which is hard to put into words.

After the Australian memorial we walked up to Chunuk Bair and met the Kiwi's from our group and then luckily our couch was one of the first to pull up so we made it out before a huge rush of people, some waited hours. We then had a long drive back to Istanbul where we checked into our hotel and then headed out for the closing night party.

I stayed for a couple of drinks but called it a night early as my flight back to London was departing at 6am! I made it to the airport in time and got back home by midday.

Had an absolutely amazing time all in all.

---