My latest adventure: Çanakkale, Gallipoli and Troy

Semester break. My colleagues are travelling to exotic places like Zanzibar, Egypt and Georgia, but I am not. I have decided to save money and travel in Turkey - after all, winters in Turkey are generally mild and snowless, especially along the Aegean coast... right? Wrong. The trip to Çanakkale was supposed to take four days, but we fled, tail between legs, after two days. It was so cold.

On Sunday night, Rick, Tim and myself boarded the overnight bus for the ten hour ride to Çanakkale. The weather was mild in Ankara, but Istanbul had been hit with a severe snowstorm the day before. The weather reports for Çanakkale reported sunny weather and above zero temperatures so we weren't too concerned. As the bus drove in to Çanakkale I looked out the window and saw snow, ice and bundled up people. My heart sunk... we were in for four days of cold, pursuing activities that involved being outdoors. We disembarked from the bus and hailed a taxi whose interior was colder than the coldest day in Antarctica. After a short, yet freezing, cab ride, we arrived at our hotel and found that it was not open. Luckily, there was another, cheaper hotel right next door which provided us with breakfast, rooms and warmth.

After breakfast we decided to head to Troy, the city made famous by Homer's book "The Iliad". We walked on treacherous streets to the dolmus (mini bus) station and caught a freezing cold mini bus to Troy. I was quite excited to see the place made famous by the siege of Troy, the Trojan horse, and the beauty of Helen. I wanted to walk in the footsteps of Hector, Achilles and Agamemnon (not Paris though because he was a loser). Troy was sorely disappointing. First, you pay too much money to get in (for the quality of the place). The first stop is an information bulletin about Troy, which you can read if you want to be pummelled by the Arctic winds whipping about. Visitors then stop at the replica Trojan horse, a great photo-op because your friends can climb up and poke their heads out the windows. The stairs up in to the Trojan horse are extremely steep and, at that time of year, ice covered. Not for the faint of heart. Following that, visitors can stop in a very poor excuse for a museum while a small cat follows, meowing loudly. Then, visitors follow a path through loads of rubble - the foundations of houses, walls etc. This may have been interesting had we decided to take a guided tour (not an option at that time of year apparently) or if there had been one of those little information radio guides to listen to (also not available). The ground was slippery, the weather cold, and my appreciation very non-existent. My advice: Don't waste your time and money on a visit to the ancient city of Troy. And if you must go, go in the summer.

That evening, upon our return from Troy, we were so cold. I don't know what the temperature was... but it was SOOOO cold. Turkey is a country of cement buildings without insulation, where warm air gets sucked out as soon as a door is opened. That evening we were unable to get warm so we retired to our hotel early, played an invigorating game of "Bananagrams" and were asleep by nine.

We awoke the next morning, ready for another cold day but feeling happy because we had a car booked for our tour of Gallipoli. Wrong. The car rental company which had OK'ed the rental the previous day was now claiming that it was too dangerous to drive (although no new snow had fallen) so we were forced to take a tour. I really enjoyed the tour, the bus was warm, lunch was provided, and the guide was very knowledgeable.

For those who know nothing about Gallipoli, it is a peninsula south of Istanbul where a large battle was fought during World War I. The British/Australian/New Zealand/French troops wanted to take control of this important area to have easy access to Russia and the food the Russians could provide to the troops, as well as to control Istanbul. The Turks, under the command of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who were on the side of the Germans, weren't having any of this... and thus, a long, drawn out, bloody battle with lots of casualties on both sides. Gallipoli is especially important to Australians and New Zealanders and is commemorated every April on ANZAC day. The tour took us through the major battle sights, allowed us to visit a museum (which needs a lot of improvement), Anzac Cove (where the Anzacs landed), various war memorials for both sides, as well as the trenches. There isn't a lot to see on the Gallipoli peninsula and it's hard to envision the huge battle that took place, but if you are interested in military history or if you are in the area, it is worth going to.

Although Gallipoli was interesting it was also SOOOO COLD. By the end of the tour we were all ready to go home. It was Tuesday and we had plane tickets to Ankara booked for Thursday but we couldn't envision spending another minute in that cold, inhospitable land. Like cowards, we ate our plane tickets and booked a bus home. Unlocking the door of my warm apartment and crawling in to my comfortable bed was heaven.

The picture above shows a beautiful quote from Ataturk:
Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives, you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country, therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us, where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are at peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.