Our day started with a very extensive breakfast buffet - cereals, cakes and pastries, eggs and salads - tomato, cucumber, onion - olives, cheese, fried bread and toast with preserves.
After breakfast, we met our guide and headed for the battlefields. Our guide had taken additional courses (and exams) to qualify as a guide for the battlefields and was not backward in sharing his views on he Turkish situation in the past and the present.
A short ferry trip took us to Ecebat where we looked at the gun installations, similar to those up and down the Dardanelles. We then headed towards the entrance to the battlefields where, using the map displayed we heard the story of the Anzac Day landings being in the wrong place and theories for why this had happened. Our guide was of the view that the mistake was a fortunate one as he believes that there would have been many more casualties if the landing had been at Brighton Beach as there were far more Turks there ready for action. He was also quite knowledgeable on the political situation that existed in Europe at the time and the diplomatic background to the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand. Such information was never provided to us at school!
We then headed to Anzac Cove on the road that was widened in 2005, causing quite a bit of controversy in Australia as during the process some bones were uncovered. We visited the current memorial site and walked back along the beach to the old site and the memorial with the words purportedly from Ataturk's speech in 1934 (the first time the memorial service was open to families and the public).
From here we headed up to the Lone Pine Cemetery; the Turkish Cemetery for the 57th Regiment (Ataturk's regiment) and finally Chunuk Bair and the New Zealand memorial and mass grave.
It was a beautiful day and despite the many visitors - mostly Turkish visiting their monuments though we did come across a couple of buses from the cruise boat in town -I was struck by the peacefulness of the site. It is hard to imagine such a hardly fought and bloody battle taking place here.
We then stopped at a local co-op restaurant run by the women in the area - providing lunch made from the produce of the area and also selling preserves that they had made. Our guide had told us that the Turkish society was matriarchal and Michael asked him to question a couple of the women about this, The older one very diplomatically thought that it was probably more equal, while the younger was quick to reply that she was in charge most of the time!
We headed back to our hotel and an afternoon nap for me. The recent travel, combined with a cold had taken its toll!
In the early evening, we took our promenade along the 'seaside' with countless others - it was a beautiful evening with no need for a coat or wrap. Our first stop was where a young girl and her family were fishing. She had caught a fish and was reeling it in under the very watchful eye of a stray cat. Dad let the fish off the hook and the cat immediately started playing with it - quite surprised that it still moved, but willing to wait until it stopped!
Further along we came across the fishing boats and then the wooden horse from the 2004 movie Troy. A little the worse for wear, but still a great piece of art. We found a bar for dinner and watched as nearly everyone else smoked their nargile (hookah) which became part of the Turkish culture in the 17th century. As the call to prayer started, the music was turned off, to begin again once the prayer had finished. Our meal of meatball wrap with salad and chips (that we shared, it was so big!), a beer and 2 wines cost a total of $23!
We headed back to our hotel and a welcome bed for the night, looking forward to a quieter day tomorrow.
After breakfast, we met our guide and headed for the battlefields. Our guide had taken additional courses (and exams) to qualify as a guide for the battlefields and was not backward in sharing his views on he Turkish situation in the past and the present.
A short ferry trip took us to Ecebat where we looked at the gun installations, similar to those up and down the Dardanelles. We then headed towards the entrance to the battlefields where, using the map displayed we heard the story of the Anzac Day landings being in the wrong place and theories for why this had happened. Our guide was of the view that the mistake was a fortunate one as he believes that there would have been many more casualties if the landing had been at Brighton Beach as there were far more Turks there ready for action. He was also quite knowledgeable on the political situation that existed in Europe at the time and the diplomatic background to the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand. Such information was never provided to us at school!
We then headed to Anzac Cove on the road that was widened in 2005, causing quite a bit of controversy in Australia as during the process some bones were uncovered. We visited the current memorial site and walked back along the beach to the old site and the memorial with the words purportedly from Ataturk's speech in 1934 (the first time the memorial service was open to families and the public).
From here we headed up to the Lone Pine Cemetery; the Turkish Cemetery for the 57th Regiment (Ataturk's regiment) and finally Chunuk Bair and the New Zealand memorial and mass grave.
It was a beautiful day and despite the many visitors - mostly Turkish visiting their monuments though we did come across a couple of buses from the cruise boat in town -I was struck by the peacefulness of the site. It is hard to imagine such a hardly fought and bloody battle taking place here.
We then stopped at a local co-op restaurant run by the women in the area - providing lunch made from the produce of the area and also selling preserves that they had made. Our guide had told us that the Turkish society was matriarchal and Michael asked him to question a couple of the women about this, The older one very diplomatically thought that it was probably more equal, while the younger was quick to reply that she was in charge most of the time!
We headed back to our hotel and an afternoon nap for me. The recent travel, combined with a cold had taken its toll!
In the early evening, we took our promenade along the 'seaside' with countless others - it was a beautiful evening with no need for a coat or wrap. Our first stop was where a young girl and her family were fishing. She had caught a fish and was reeling it in under the very watchful eye of a stray cat. Dad let the fish off the hook and the cat immediately started playing with it - quite surprised that it still moved, but willing to wait until it stopped!
Further along we came across the fishing boats and then the wooden horse from the 2004 movie Troy. A little the worse for wear, but still a great piece of art. We found a bar for dinner and watched as nearly everyone else smoked their nargile (hookah) which became part of the Turkish culture in the 17th century. As the call to prayer started, the music was turned off, to begin again once the prayer had finished. Our meal of meatball wrap with salad and chips (that we shared, it was so big!), a beer and 2 wines cost a total of $23!
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