The fifth day of our tour sees another perfect clear spring day. We start the day’s touring with a visit to the ruins of ancient Troy. About 40 minutes from Canakkale the site of the ruins is an ongoing archaeological dig, although no works are visable to the tourist areas. As well as the viewing this wonderful site which dates back to over 2500BC the location also gives a great view of the start of the Gallipoli Peninsula and the Dardanelles. This section of the Dardanelles, which is just before the Narrows, is the site of the failed Allied navy forces attempt to force past the Turkish defenses on March 18, 1915.

Say hello to the Gallipoli Battlefield Tour Group for 2007. While at the ruin of Troy we made use of the old theatre for a photo of the whole group.

Next stop is at the Dardanos Battery gun emplacements where Ashley describes the naval battle of March 18 and how it lead to the plan to take the peninsula in the Gallipoli Campaign.

This location give a great view of the Dardanelles are you can clearly see just how difficult any attempt to take this location by naval forces would have been.

After a lunch stop at the Tusan Hotel Restaurant, once again over looking the Dardanelles we travel back to Canakkale for a guided tour of the naval museum and Canakkale fortress. Here are many examples of what the Allied naval forces faced in the battle. This is also the location of some of the paintings by George Lambert which are currently on display in the George Lambert exhibition at the Australian War Memorial (see the George Lambert blog by Janda who is also on the Battle Field Tour).

Some more images from day 5

Canakkale

Ruins of Troy

Dardanos Battery

Canakkale fortress and naval museum

Çanakkale is a port town on the western side of the Dardanelles at the Narrows.

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Wikipedia: Çanakkale

Please note that while there are satellite images for the ANZAC Cove area they are of a low resolution.

We depart Istanbul at 7:30am for the coach trip to Canakkale. Including a couple of comfort stops and a lunch stop at the Maydoz Restaurant in Eceabat, this is a 6 hour journey.

While there is not a lot to see along the way our tour guides Serap and Ashley keep us informed of any items of interest we pass along the way. Ashley also had some information about the Australian Navy submarine ‘AE-2’ which was part of the Gallipoli campaign (Links: Australian War Memorial, ANZAC Site, Wikipedia).

The highlight of the day is seeing the Dardanelles. This being the first of the Gallipoli campaign land marks of the trip. After lunch at Eceabat we cross the Dardanelles to Canakkale at the Narrows. This gives the best view of just how narrow this strip of water is.

 

Also visible from the ferry (and from just about every else around Canakkale) is the Dur Yolcu memorial. This memorial is situated on the eastern slopes of the Kilitbahir Plateau on the Gallipoli Peninsula and directly faces Canakkale. It was constructed by the Turkish military authorizes. It reads;

 

Dur Yolcu!
Bilmeden gelip bastign bu toprak
Bir devrin battigi yerdir
(Necmettin Halil Onan)

Stop passerby!
The ground you tread on, unawares, once witnessed the end of a generation.
Listen, in this quiet earth beats the heart of a nation.

Also clearly visible from the ferry and the town is a large red sign which simply reads “18 MART 1915”. This is to commemorate the 18th of March, 1915 which is the day the British naval offensive was removed from the Dardanelles.

 

 

The rest of the afternoon was left free for us to explore Canakkale. Amongst the classic water front town restaurants, shops and fishing boats is the original wooden horse used in the 2004 movie ‘Troy’. A funny typo on the information board at the base of this reads that the film stared ‘Brat Pitt’.

Additional Photos from day 4

Our last full day in Istanbul, until we return from Canakkale and Gallipoli in a bit over a week’s time. First stop is for a tour of Kariye Museum of St Savior in Chora. Many of the museums here were once churches that were later turned into mosques. This is an excellent example. When these buildings were turned into mosques all the frescoes and mosaics where plastered over to meet with the Islamic law that forbids images of people. This did a good job of preserving the images underneath, but a lot of work has been required to remove the plaster.

The Suleymaniye mosque was next. This is a more modern mosque and is beautiful sight. Lunch was in the Darruziyafe restaurant which in the grounds of the mosque. This had one surprise for many on the trip as no alcohol can be served

The afternoon touring was kept short (to allow for packing to the next day’s trip to Canakkale) with a trip to the Egyptian Spice Markets. Amazing colours, sights and smells.

Istanbul by night

Topkapi Palace

The street on the way to the Topkapi Palace

St Sophia

The Blue Mosque

Running the

gauntlet of the street sellers as soon you get off the bus at any tourist location is a common experience. This gentleman was good but some will just not take no for an answer. You quickly learn to just tune them out.

Our first full day in Istanbul was mostly on foot which was a nice break after the past few days of travel. We start with a quick bus trip to the Hippodrome, which is an ancient arena. Only some of the markers now exist, as the stone seating (which could seat over 100,000 people) has been removed over time for other buildings. The Hippodrome runs along in front of the Blue Mosque and St Sophia.

At the entrance to the Blue Mosque we remove our shoes to enter as this mosque is in use. The size of the dome and the detail of the mosaics are amazing. The scale is not something that a photo can easily capture. I have used a photo stitching software to try to create an image of the main dome.

Upon exiting the Blue Mosque (we do get to put our shoes back on) the first thing you see St Sophia, a very large structure and only a short walk away. St Sophia has gone though a few changes since the site was first built on in around 500AD. The first two churches built on this location burnt down. The basis of the current building was a church started around 1200AD. Finally used as a mosque St Sophia is now a museum with renovation work underway to restore some of the original mosaics.

After some time wandering the main floor and upper gallery of St Sophia we moved onto the underground cistern across the road. This is a large water store that is no longer in use. It was built using any available stone that could be found so there are many wonderful old carvings and designs to be seen.

A bit of a walk along some narrow streets brings us to the entrance to the Topkapi Palace. Home to many rulers since it was first established the Palace is a maze of building and walls. This was a great place for lunch, at the restaurant in the grounds, and to wander though for the afternoon. Then it was back to the hotel, dinner and rest.

Many cities claim to have the title of “The city that never sleeps” and most the time this is not quite true. But I feel Istanbul can make a claim to this title. This was the scene from the hotel at 3:30am. Basically one large traffic jam, consisting primarily of taxis. Not a lot of noise but an amazing sight.

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The Janissary Band concert outside at the Military Museum

   

Outside the Military Museum

 

It is spring time in Turkey

Afternoon cruise on the Bosphorus

 

  

A view of Istanbul from the hotel

One of the many heritage buildings in Istanbul

The Suleymaniye Mosque

The first day of sight seeing takes us to the Bosphorus for a ferry trip. Blue, clear skies made it a perfect day to be outside. Many sights to be seen while on the water between Europe and Asia.

I am collecting the correct names for each of the locations I photograph but I’ll post the photos now and add some titles and descriptions as they are collected.Our visit to the Military Museum was timed so that we could see the Janissary Band perform.

 

Usually this is conducted inside but as the weather was so clear we got to see a rare outdoor performance.

That was all for day one (a half day). We returned to the hotel for an early dinner and some much needed rest. Day two is a busy day, most of it on foot. More photos then.

The plane lands on time at 8:40am local time which makes a total journey time of 23 hours for myself and the others who departed from Sydney. It was an uneventful flight with no delays and no rough weather. Some wonderful views of thunder storms as we travelled past India and Iraq. Other sights like the lights of Dubai and cloud formations help pass the time. Anything helps when you are in a seat for 23 hours!

A quick exit from the airport as there were only two passenger aircraft landing this early. We all gathered for the first time in the bus that will be our main transport for the next couple of weeks. On the trip to the hotel we are welcomed by Ashley and introduced to our tour guide. It’s not a long journey from the airport to the hotel but there is still time to learn about the basic layout of Istanbul. There is even time to grab some photos out the window of the bus while travelling along… but then again I’ll always have the camera out looking for photos.

Nothing planned until after lunch which is a great time to settle in and much needed freshen up.