Time for a holiday

There is no point going into much depth about Gallipoli, it is a personal experience. It is a place of great emotion and greater loss.

Lone Pine

Chunuck Bair

It is humbling to see the rolling terrain and trenches where so many lives were lost.  The battle was pointless and although the Turkish forces won, there were no real winners.

The fascinating thing about Gallipoli is that it is as much a Turkish shrine as an ANZAC one.  There were thousands of Turks visiting the day we were there and I got the sense it was a truly joint tragedy.

Anna, Neil and I caught the car ferry across to Cannakale for 7 Lira each including the car and in 15 minutes we had crossed to Cannakale.

We found accommodation in the ANZAC Hostel.  Several places around town catered specifically for Gallipoli sightseers.  There was an ‘Aussie Hostel’, ‘ANZAC Hotel’ and my personal favourite, ‘Crowded House Hotel’.  The front desk at the hostel mentioned a place had opened up on a 4 day cruise through the Aegean Sea.  I would receive a decent discount for filling the spot so decided to do it. It would be a bit of a rush to travel to the start point but as always it is great to go with the flow. 

Next morning we were off the Troy, the ancient city famous for the ‘army in the horse’ trick. The hostel had warned us of the poor quality replica horse that was on show. They said that everyone wanted to replace it but the government refused as it would offend to local tradesmen.

Troy has 9 different levels of civilisation with each city built on top of the next.  In places you can see several very distinct layers.

Fairly standard ruins but with amazing landscapes behind. 

 

We drove for about 5 hours and then our first swim in the Mediterranean.

Anna and Neil then dropped me off at Izmir bus station where I waited 9 hours for my next overnight bus.  Fortunately Turkey was playing Kazakstan in a Euro 2012 qualifier.  About 150 people crowed into this little café to watch the action. Turkey won in the 95^th minute from a freekick.  I caught the moment on video.  

Check the grin on the face of the guy next to me.

I arrived at 5am and slept on a bench until 9am when I would go to the cruise. It turned out that 9 of the 16 people on the cruise were Kiwis! The guys I hung out with most were a group of 4; Jono, Claire, Mike and Jason.

The cruise was effectively 4 days of swimming, eating, beers and sightseeing.  

 Followed by breakfast. 

Followed by a swim.

Followed by fishing for dinner

Followed some cruising.

Followed by some cliff jumping

Followed by anchoring a historical sight. 

Followed by a swim at the shore of the historical sight. 

Followed by some beers

Followed by another swim in crystal clear water. The water in this photo is probably about 7 meters deep yet it looks like Jono is about to be permanently maimed.

Followed by dinner

Then another swim late at night. Then repeat.

The sights included Butterfly Bay with its 450m high cliffs surrounding.  I would equate it to Totoranui in NZ.

Kars, a mellow seaside town known for a geographical oddity. Megisti is an island just 400m from shore and is surrounded by other islands yet it and it alone is part of Greece…

Kekova, a place of cultural wealth, natural beauties and geography.  It is the site of the sunken city where an earthquake shifted a large city entirely underwater.  Snorkelling is not allowed but you can cruise over the top and look through the crystal clear water at village that once was.  There is a 2000 year old fort with various wells and tombs dotted around the island.

It was a very relaxing 4 days after weeks of hectic culture-filled travel. We slept under the stars every night, the stars amazing because we were moored in remote bays and were woken up at about 7am when the temperature rose above 35C.  When too hot you simply jumped into the beautiful water, went snorkelling.

In the evenings the local villages came around trying to sell their local produce including freshly boat-cooked pancakes. Spinich and Feta one was boomtown.

We slept under the stars every night and caught some amazing scenery. I managed to capture a sweet timelapse of one of the lagoons.

It was a truly magical 4 days and a great wee rest after a 3 weeks of quite intense travel. I am back in Istanbul with one more day to explore.  Then off to Greece to meet my cousin and maybe Sam Bisset who will be there at the same time.