After working on the blog and doing some exercises in the morning (yes, we are trying to be active, even John), we met with our tour guide at the travel agency. We hopped in his car and he drove us to the ferry, which only took 10 minutes to cross the Dardanelles from Canakkale to Eceabat.
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| Crossing the Dardanelles towards 15th century AD castle |
He then drove us to the restaurant, where we met the rest of the group (4 people) while having lunch. They were friendly and chatty, which made up for the unimpressive lunch.
We then set off in a minibus to visit the Turkish and ANZAC memorials of the Gallipoli campaign, during which the Allies unsuccessfully fought the Turkish army to gain control of the Dardanelles. After two ships were sunk by Turkish mines, thousands troops from Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand were landed in the area. ANZAC forces landed on the west of the peninsula, while French, British and Indian troops were sent to the south. The Allies dug in as soon as they arrived on the peninsula, and trench warfare led to heavy casualties for minimal progress. The Allies thus organised a retreat of their troops around eight months after starting the operation.
The tour took us only to Turkish and Anzac memorials and cemeteries, as the memorials for the British, Indian and French forces were further down south (presumably because most visitors are from Australia and New Zealand). There's no public transport on the peninsula, so we stuck to the tour. We started the visit with the beach where Anzac troops landed, now called Anzac Cove, and where the main Anzac memorial has been erected. Every year a memorial ceremony is organised. We continued along the peninsula, stopping off at several other cemeteries.
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| Pillbox from WW2 on the beach where the Anzac troops had planned to land |
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| Anzac Cove, where the Anzac troops actually landed, not expecting such steep slopes |
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| Cemetery by Anzac Cove |
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| Rock known as the "Sphinx" |
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| Looking up at the "Sphinx" from Anzac Cove |
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| Lone Pine Australian cemetery |
The high number of casualties was terrifying, and seeing the young age of some of the soldiers was very moving.
On our way to the Turkish memorial we saw the remains of trenches and communication tunnels built by both sides, only a few metres from each other.
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| Entrance to a communication tunnel |
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| Remains of ANZAC trenches |
The Turkish memorial was set up near the highest part of the peninsula, the strategic point that the Allied forces had tried and failed to capture.
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| Turkish soldier carrying wounded English captain across no man's land |
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| Statue of Ataturk, marking the place where he was saved from a bullet by his pocket watch |
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| Turkish memorial in honour of the 57th regiment |
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| Cemetery tourism |
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| View from the high ground where so many lives were lost |
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| View of the Dardanelles from the high ground |
Back in Canakkale, we went for a stroll along the harbour to enjoy the sunset. On the way back we bought some food for dinner in a supermarket, which proved tastier than lunch.
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| Canakkale promenade in the late afternoon sun |
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| Sunset over the Dardanelles |
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