turkey; gelibolu {gallipoli}

{Monday October 28th} 

We got up at 7 this morning to pack up and get ready for the day. Around 8 we went upstairs for breakfast, which was the same as the past two mornings.  Apparently the hotel right across the street was on fire last night and there was a bunch of fire trucks but I didn't hear anything. 

Our ride for the next week

We met our bus out front at 9am, but by the time everyone decided to get a coffee it was actually 9:20 before we left. We will be traveling 330km to Cannakule today. It should be 5 hours of driving, however the traffic in Istanbul is the second worst in the world so one is never quite sure.  Istanbul has a population of over 14 million people and a diameter of 100km. 

By some miracle, we got out of the city without any traffic. At 11 we stopped in Tekirdad for a twenty minute break at a gas station. We had to pay 1 lira to use the washroom but it was very clean.  I also got a Turkish tea and a chocolate bar to snack on. We continued on with about 3 hours to go. 

On our way we were given a brief history of how Turkey was formed and where the Turks came from.  The Ottoman Empire was overcome in world war 1, as they were allies with Germany.  After world war 1, the French, british, Italians occupied what is now known as Turkey.  The republic of Turkey was established in 1923. Ataturk, the man that lead the revolution, made many changes including changing the calendar, changing the alphabet from Arabic to Latin, the school system, he abolished having sultans and talifs (the highest church figure, similar to a pope), as well as many other things. 

The Byzantine empire was established by the Romans with their first city being where Topkapi Palace now sits.  In 660 bc the roman king lead his people to find a safer city in which to lead his empire.  His oracle advised him that he would find a place overlooking a people who are blind.  He found this in what it now Istanbul,  specifically the hill on which Topkapi Palace sits.  This hill overlooks the Asian side and the king thought they were the blind people as he didn't understand why they established on the plain rather than the hill. This city was known as Constantinople and ruled the Roman Empire.  The Roman Empire later divided into the eastern and the western Roman Empire.  In the middle of the 15th century, the eastern Roman Empire was conquered by the Turks.  Eastern Roman Empire had Greeks, Romans and Christianity; these three things distinguished it and therefore it was given the name Byzantine empire to distinguish it from the Roman Empire or western Roman Empire.  

The Blue Mosque, the spice market and Topkapi Palace were all created by the Ottoman Empire.  This empire was influenced by the Persian empire, the Byzantine empire and the other empires of Asia Minor.   

Gelibolu {Gallipoli)

When our history lesson was over, it was about a twenty minute drive into the town of Gelibolu (jelly-bowl-ew; Gallipoli). Once there, we had an hour to wander and get some lunch. Just by the seaside there was a memorial dedicated to the man who created the first world map.  Mom and I went into the town and stopped at a supermarket. We picked up some apricots, nuts, and cookies to have as snacks for later. We then went a little further up the street and stopped at a bakery.  We had an orange bun, a chocolate roll and a small herb bun with cheese in the center. We also had Turkish tea; we got everything for only 5 lira!  After our stop we walked through the town some more and then got a fried sardine before getting back on the bus.  

We will continue towards the battlefields of Gallipoli now. We have been following the Sea of Marmara for most of our drive so it's been very nice scenery. 

We got to the museum of the battle of Gallipoli around 3:45. It was 13 lira to enter the museum and we opted that we would like to see it. It was extremely well done, with eleven different halls with a short video explaining a different element of the battle in each one. It was definitely done from a Turkish perspective, and it is unusual to visit a monument where "we" were defeated in battle. Unfortunately we were unable to take photos, but the videos were very well done and really helped to understand what took place. 

From the museum we went to one of the graveyards. We saw the monument representing the letter written from Ataturk to the people of Australia.  We also visited the seaside cemetery at sunset, with grave markers of some of the soldiers.  It was very sobering to be in such a peaceful, quiet, and beautiful place, with the knowledge that such bloodshed and tragedy had occurred in that very place. 

From there, we headed towards the ferry that would take us over to çanakkale (the modern city of Troy). It was about a half hour ferry ride over and we docked right in town. Our hotel tonight is just a couple blocks up from the pier, right on the shore of the Dardanellen straight, which connects the Aegean Sea to the sea of Marmora (which connects to the Bosporus straight and the to the Black Sea).  We checked in and were given our room keys.  It's quite a nice hotel, the rooms are smaller than last night but the decor it very nice.  We couldn't start our dinner until after 7, so we went for a walk. We headed further away from the ferry, along the waterfront.  There is a very nice walkway following the waterfront along the main stretch of the town. After a short walk we went back to the hotel for a buffet dinner. There was a very big selection and it was all delicious. There were pumpkin chips, although I don't think their pumpkin is the same as ours, and a pasta that was more of a cross between pasta and quiche. It was different but it was very good and a great opportunity to try something new. 

After dinner we went for a walk again, however this time we went towards the ferry into the heart of the town. It's a very nice town and the walkway along the shoreline especially is a lovely walk. We saw the Trojan horse that was used when they filmed Troy, which is on display on the walkway.  

It was about 10pm when we got back to the hotel. The internet here doesn't seem to be work so I will just call it a night. We will be leaving at 8am tomorrow so it will be nice to have a good nights rest! 

J. 
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