Lest We Forget

We arrived in Istanbul late Saturday, we had a quick induction with our loopy-lou tour guide, dropped our bags and went to sniff out some local Turkish ale. After managing it across the road and to the corner we came across a pub with some friendly locals. So friendly in fact that they even took me on a spin around the local area on their motorbike, an excellent idea whilst tipsy and without travel insurance. We also spent some of the night hunting out a kebab stumbling across a hashish bar where many a parlour trick were performed and we went up in smoke like cheech and chong!

The next day we had a city tour of Istanbul, which included visits to the Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, Topkapi Palace and the Underground Cistern. We spent our free time in the afternoon wandering and shopping in the labyrinth that is the Grand Bazaar as well as drinking in another pub watching some very interesting attempts at driving. We then spent the night held hostage upon a Bosphorus Cruise where we were subjected to some pretty bad dance music most of the night. However all jokes aside it was fantastic to make some new friends whilst travelling down the strait that separates Asia and Europe!

Day 3 saw us travel 5 hours to Gallipoli where we visited all the memorable sites including Kabatepe War Museum, Anzac Cove, Chunuk Bair, Lone Pine and some of the remaining trenches. We were surprised at the small size of the commemorative site and appreciated visiting these locations without all the crowds. We then spent another 4 hours on our bus travelling to Ayvalik, our sea side resort for the next two nights. The next morning we left for Pergamum, were we discovered the Greek acropolis including the Temple of Athena, Temple of Trajan and theatre cut into the hillside. We returned to our hotel for a Turkish style BBQ, a dip in the pool complete with water slide and a cold beer from our makeshift esky. Very quickly the night turned into morning and just like the previous day we ended up in the "packed out" discotheque boogie-ing the night away.

After much pestering of our guide to be amongst the first at Gallipoli including threats of leaving without him, we departed Ayvalik bright and early. We made our way to the commemorative site stopping at Troy for a quick whirlwind visit, and while it was nice, it was as one tourist was overhead saying 'just rocks'. However all our nagging and racing to the site seemed pointless when we arrived at Gallipoli at 1:30pm only to be told they would be not opening entrance until after 3pm. But, somehow through pure luck, faith or chance we managed to sneak in and found that we were the 3rd bus to enter the site and literally had free picks of the grass. After much debate we found our home for the evening and rolled out the sleeping bags preparing for the hard 16 hours ahead. Being at the dawn service is something words and images do not capture, as cliched as it is, it really needs to be seen to believed. As the last post is played, the national anthem sung and you look up at those sharp, terrifying cliffs that 93 years earlier many sons, fathers and husbands were pointlessly forced to climb you are overcome with a wave of emotions. Many a tear was shed at this moving ceremony and the proceeding national New Zealand and Australian services at Chunuk Bair and Lone Pine, respectively. We both feel fortunate to have made the pilgrimage to Anzac Cove and it is safe to say it is something we will never forget.

I was wrapped in the Blue Mosque!

Where east meets west. J and I at Topkapi Palace lookout that views the strait connecting Europe and Asia.

Us at the Beach Cemetry Memorial

At Lone Pine.

In the trenches at Chunuk Bair.

J and I's tags for entrance to the commerative site, we were 144 and 167 (respectively) of 10,000.

Bed for the night...

Sunset over Anzac Cove

Dressed in Australia paraphernalia (and the rest) from head to toe and I was still freezing, although minus 3 overnight will do that to you!

Cold and tired after the Dawn Service at lone pine.