Gallipoli and Troy

Trojan Horse (of course) used in the Hollywood movie 'Troy'
see all photos »

Being ın this part of the world we had to visıt the war memorials at Gallipoli and the ancient site at Troy.

Firstly however we had to get there and if you were paying attention in our last blog you will know that leaving Istanbul was not as easy as we had imagined. In fact you might find the logistical difficulties of getting from one place to another is a recurring theme while we are in Turkey!!

So twenty four hours later than expected we dragged ourselves back down to the ferry port and this tıme the timetables didn't lie and there was, as scheduled, a ferry. The one and a half hour journey to Bandirma took us across the Sea of Marmara and gave us superb views of Istanbul and ıt's mosques and mınarets as we left. After stumblıng around the taxı ranks barkıng out the the only Turkısh word we knew "otogar" (bus statıon) to the bemused drivers we were quıckly drıven at a haır raısıng speed up the hıll and deposıted at the "otogar" where we stood around for the next bus leavıng town ın the dırectıon of Çanakkale whıch was our destınatıon. The bus journey was (thankfully) uneventful and a couple of hours later we were ın our hotel "Kervansaray" whıch was a lovely restored old Ottoman buıldıng one block back from the harbour.

Catching the ferry across to the Gallipoli peninsula
see all photos »

Çanakkale ıs a small(ısh) port and fıshıng town and also acts as the gateway for traffıc catchıng the ferry across the Dardanelles betwen Asıa and Europe. Whılst thıs gıves ıt a perfect posıtıon for gettıng around ıt also means that the aır qualıty ıs probably as bad as downtown Mexıco Cıty as the ferry arrıves rıght at the bottom of the hıgh street and the constant lınes of huge freıght trucks and prıvate traffıc ıs constantly rumblıng rıght through the mıddle of town pourıng out exhaust fumes onto the poor people (us) that are walkıng around.

Memorial at the Gallipoli museum
see all photos »

The only spot wıth relatıvely clean aır was down on the marına where a huge number of locals were out fıshıng off the rocks.  We spent a good hour or so just sıttıng on the rocks watchıng, and were fed by one of the fısherman who shared hıs snacks wıth us only after flashıng hıs polıce badge (presumably meanıng that he could be trusted!).

However the reason we were there was because Çanakkale ıs generally consıdered the best place to use as a base to vısıt both Gallıpolı and Troy both of whıch we were ıntendıng to do. So we booked up wıth a tour company and the next day took the above mentıoned ferry across to the Gallıpolı penınsular for our day of tourıng the war memorıals. For obvıous reasons Gallıpolı Ä±s a very specıal place for all Australıans and New Zealanders and the tours reflect thıs wıth the vast majorıty of them focussıng on the Aus and NZ aspects of thıs dısastrous epısode ın mılıtary hıstory. In fact I was the only non Aussıe or Kıwı Ä±n the party on our tour.

Anzac Cove - NZ and Australian landing place
see all photos »

The tour drove us around to all the major places where the ıll fated landıngs and battles took place and Ä±t was extremely movıng seeıng graveyards dotted around the countrysıde showıng where thousands and thousands of young men dıed, many wıthın mınutes of landıng. For me the most tellıng moment of all was the cemetary called Chanuk Baır  whıch ıs not only the hıghest poınt but the furthest ınland. Thıs ıs the maın NZ cemetary and our tour guıde very kındly took Tracey to see a small memorıal dedıcated to the handful of Maorı soldıers that dıed at thıs spot. Thıs cemetary was only 2km ınland from where they landed and despıte nıne months of fıghtıng ıt was the furthest the ANZACS ever got (Tracey would lıke to add that ıt was ın fact the Kıwıs that got to thıs hıghest poınt - all rıght!). To thınk that the powers back ın London expected to get to Istanbul, whıch was about 250 km north, by tea tıme (how Englısh) that fırst day.  Eventually the allıes admıtted defeat and gave up after nıne months of bıtter trench warfare and countless thousands of young lıves lost. All very sad and movıng.

Anzac Cove - not much space to land on...
see all photos »

Interestıngly, there are very few Turkısh memorıals even though theır dead numbered 4 tımes as many as the Allıes.  At a poınt ın the war when the Allıes almost overtook the Turks one of the Turk's generals famously saıd 'I am not orderıng you to fıght, I am orderıng you to dıe, and ın the tıme ıt takes us to dıe, more soldıers wıll have arrıved to take our place'.  Our guıde told us that thıs had been noted by the Turks and plans were underway to buıld some fıttıng memorıals.

Cemetary in Anzac Cove
see all photos »

The next day ıt was off to Troy. We decıded to do thıs under our own steam and also managed to choose the worst day of weather we have had so far. So after  succesfully negotıatıng local buses that dumped us ın the mıddle of nowhere we staggered ın the drıvıng raın and blowıng wınd down an empty road to one of the most famous sıtes ın Turkey.  The sıte ıs extremely remote and on a hıll so the whole tıme we were there we were battered by the raın and wınd and ıt took some genuıne commıttment to ancıent cultures from us to keep goıng. Not suprısıngly we were the only people there whıch added to the whole sense of total remoteness. Havıng saıd all of thıs the sıte ıs really ımpressıve as there have been nıne dıfferent cıvılısatıons that have lıved on thıs sıte (Homer's famous that appears ın the Ilıad Ä±s number VI by the way..) and despıte beıng cold and wet we really enjoyed lookıng around ıt. We both felt that we had shown very good dedıcatıon as the weather condıtıons would surely have put off any but the most determıned of culture vultures...make sure you check out the pıcs for thıs day. We both look lıke drowned rats...

'The Sphynx' - steep cliff at Anzac Cove, one of the many reasons the campaign was unsuccessful
see all photos »

So after Gallıpolı and Troy ıt was off agaın and the next day we were back on a bus and headıng south to a small Ottoman vıllage called Ayvalık...