Helen Hotel Canakkale

... Court and had a great time. One of the bar stewards gave Graeme and I some Sambucca and a drink each of Brandy and Rum. When we got back to our cabin there was a beautiful display of flowers there from Judy who is a friend of Ray and Gail's. It turned out to be a very enjoyable day.<br>Anzac Cove is not on the map so I can only mark something that is reasonably close I think. Try not to be confused.

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... performances during the Festival of Pamukkale.<br><br>Just down the hill are the scattered leftovers of the Temple of Apollo, patron of the city. If you descend the incline just inside the fence and circle to the other side of the temple's stairs, you can see the Plutonium, a niche believed to be sacred for the noxious carbon monoxide vapors that are emitted from a nearby underground stream. Accessible via a (closed) passageway through the ...

... 1915 cost over 500,000 lives, with slighly more lost on the Turkish side, but ultimately both sides lost, on average, a thousand men a day. The Gallipoli Campaign was an unequivocal success for the Ottoman Turks, despite the fact that they lost so many men and that they eventually lost the war, because they never did yield the Dardenelles to the Allies, who eventually were forced to pull out with their tails between their legs. The Turks were led by a young ...

Wednesday 20th May. Time to leave so we packed the van again and off we drove towar4ds the south but getting out of Istanbul was a snarly traffic jam and crossing the Bosphorous over the massive bridge took an hour. We were surprised how modern the city was so guess we had preconceived ideas. Enormous apartment blocks dominate the sky though and I suppose 16million people must be housed. We drove out of the city past ...

... another border, from Syria into Turkey. We arrived at the Syrian border at 8.30am and were ready to depart by 9am. However, the "Chief" was still asleep so we had a bit of a wait for him to come along and sign the necessary papers. Of course there was another problem (Martin is actually writing a separate Blog about borders so I won't say too much here) but eventually we were through and ready for the Turks. The Syrian border guys had told us it ...

... service is held. It was hard enough for us to walk up the hill...imagine having to run up them, dodging bullets whilst having to fire off your own. From what we saw every one of the 8 thousand ish people there was well behaved, respetcful, and whilst it was a tough slog getting through the hours and the elements, attendýng the ANZAC Day Gallipoli service and wandering through the cemetaries and memorials was a wonderful, moving experience that we will never forget.

... the service began. When it was over, they trekked up the hill to the Lone Pine cemetery in the sunny haze of morning to watch the special Australian service, before wandering back down the hill to meet the truck at the museum. <br><br>I had spent the day exploring the beaches and the firing shelters with Jasper, the Irish boys and Adam. To my terror, Adam and Jasper made it their mission to throw me in the sea. Luckily, my &#8220;curl-up-in-a-ball-until-they-go ...

... the landscape of the battle area which was surprisingly small for such an enduring and lengthy battle fought by so many. We walked through the trenches belonging to both sides which were only a few feet apart in some places. It was quite surreal to be taking such a peaceful stroll along paths where such a bloody battle had occurred. You could not help but feel gratitude for the deeds of these men but, also, guilt that we were enjoying a freedom today that they were robbed ...