Today we discovered that Gallipoli is a LONG way from Istanbul - we left at 6.30 and arrived in Gallipoli at about 1.00pm. We also discovered that Australia has a lot to learn about building decent roads - for the whole of that journey we travelled on divided motorway, much of it through quite unpopulated areas, farmland, forests etc. Not much traffic and I'd guess it would be the equivalent of a trip from Brisbane to Gladstone.
Not sure how to write about the Gallipoli visit. It is HIGHLY emotional and surprising - you just can't do the experience justice without being there. There are still trenches which we walked through and the Australian trenches are in places about 8 to 10 metres from the Turkish trenches. They used to swap rations by just throwing them across the space between. Lots of surprises in the details of the battles, landings etc as well. Our guide was Turkish and had an amazing knowledge almost down to daily and hourly detail. The wrecks of ships are still visible below the surface. There are of course numerous beautiful memorials and graveyards scattered over the site for Australian, New Zealand, Turkish soldiers - Lone Pine is a beautiful place.
After the 4-hour tour, we crossed the Dardenelles by ferry to Cannakale where we are spending the night - just had some beautiful Turkish Kebabs for tea. Off to Troy to find out what those Greeks got up to in the morning. Cheers all
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