Gallipoli and Canakkale
Trip Start
May 17, 2006
1
6
16
Trip End
Jun 01, 2006
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Gallipoli,
Turkey
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
The restaurant has a shuttle bus, and it whisks seven of us to the historic Hamam, Cemberlitas. (www.cemberlitashamami.com.tr) We are shown to private changing rooms, and we lose everything except a towel around our waists. After a quick shower we are shown into a steam room with a huge round metal table underneath a dome. They make us lie upon the hot table, sweating up a storm, until our skin is judged to be soft enough to undergo the scrub
01 Toto-ly Fun
.I have one deaf client on the tour, and I look after him and help him understand what is going on. It is wonderful to watch his face as he experiences for the first time ever something truly amazing-the sensation of having your skin vigorously scrubbed by someone wielding what feels like a brillo pad! The scrub down / massage is very firm, and every once in a while I hear a loud moan and cry from his direction as I am trying to focus on not screaming myself.
This treatment, however, is much more gentle than the one I had in Morocco last February. The scrubber man still looks like Captain Ahab (perhaps that goes with the job description), but he isn't nearly as rough on me, so I manage to get through it without crying out. All of us thoroughly enjoy the experience, and we sit in the lobby drinking Turkish Tea and fresh squeezed orange juice after we showered and dressed. After the hour in the steamy heat, the walk back to the hotel feels cool and refreshing.
This morning's alarm sounds an hour earlier than usual, and I drag out to call all the other clients since the hotel's wake-up call record has been quite spotty up to the present
02 Land of Giants?
. It was a good thing since several do not get their requested calls. We are on the road shortly after 8am, bound for Gallipoli.The first portion of the trip is characterized by quite a bit of reading and contemplation, if not outright snoring. We liven up mid-morning after coffee at our first rest stop. Chris finds me a chocolate egg marketed as "Toto" and I proudly pose for a photo. The chocolate egg is a shell surrounding a surprise toy, which we play with in the bus.
Shortly after noon we arrive at the Dardanelle Straights, and stop for lunch at a cute restaurant on the waterfront. The sight of large men piloting tiny fishing boats is entertaining, as they chug past us into the harbor.
Next stop is the museum at the Gallipoli battlefield. An impressive display includes such oddities as bullets that slammed into each other in mid-flight-so fierce and thick was the battle. We visit the ANZAC bay (acronym for Australia-New Zealand Army Corps), and several monuments and cemeteries. This was the site of an absolute slaughter as the Allied army tried to gain the high ground which was fiercely defended by the Turkish army.
03 Bullet Collesions
Next we drive to the top of the hill to visit the lone pine cemetery, and I am surprised at how moved I am by the experience. Many of the headstones of boys just 18 or 21 years old contain heartbreaking inscriptions, and the setting is extraordinarily peaceful considering what happened here 91 years ago. A brief stop at the Turkish cemetery concludes our visit to this tragic place where hundreds of thousands of men became casualties of the First World War.
A brief ferry trip from Eceabat takes us across the Dardanelle Straight to the Asian side of Turkey at Canakkale. Many of my clients are setting foot in Asia for the very first time.
Just down the waterfront from our hotel stands the actual movie prop horse from the recent "Troy" starring Brad Pitt. We are amazed at how well this prop was crafted, and how large it is when seen in real life. After several of us enjoy a relaxing stroll along the waterfront and out onto a long breakwater, the group enjoys dinner together followed by another waterfront stroll. The weather is perfect, and all are having an absolutely fabulous time!
