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Day 5

19 April 2007 by John Lafferty. 2 Comments
Battlefield Tours, Gallipoli, Week 1

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

Where is Çanakkale?

18 April 2007 by John Lafferty. 2 Comments
Battlefield Tours, Gallipoli, Week 1

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

View Larger Map

Wikipedia: Çanakkale

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

Day 4

18 April 2007 by John Lafferty. 1 Comment
Battlefield Tours, Gallipoli, Week 1

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