Talking Turkey

Following on immediately from Portugal, we headed off to Istanbul in Turkey. We were booked in to join a tour of Turkey, culminating in a night at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli for the 2008 ANZAC Day ceremonies.

Over a couple of days many plane-loads of Aussies and Kiwis arrived in Istanbul. We could only spare a week off work so we'd chosen the shortest, 6-day, tour - along with about 80 others - but there were hundreds more doing longer versions. We all kicked off at the same time though, and celebrated the commencement of our tours with a Gala Dinner. In between the courses we were entertained by traditional Turkish group dancing as well as a (slightly past-it) belly dancer - but the highlight was definitely these awesome torso-headed dancers!



The next morning we headed out of town towards the Gallipoli peninsula, and realised just how stunning a country Turkey really is. We drove for many hours through lush green fields and swaying crops, before arriving at Anzac Cove. This was April 23, two days before ANZAC Day, so the place was relatively peaceful and very beautiful. A striking contrast to how it must have been 93 years ago.


















The next day we rested before the big night, and headed to a rural village where they hand-knot traditional rugs. We received an extremely entertaining and slick sales pitch, and duly parted with some Lire for a nice rug, which should be winging its way back to Melbourne as we write! No, it's not a flying rug sadly...







We got in to Anzac Cove at about 10pm, and the place was already "full" by any measure. Luckily, there was a really great co-operative spirit amongst everyone, and we all shifted up several times during the night to accomodate the seemingly-endless busloads of people arriving well into the small hours. Our little posse consisted of Dave and Kristy, from Sydney via the Lake District, as well as new-found friends Letitia and Jess. The authorities have wisely made Anzac Cove a no-alcohol zone, so it was pure sugar that kept us laughing and joking until about 3am when we finally all dropped off, piled on top of each other in a scene that apparently resembled a seal colony.


An hour and a half later the crowd started stirring, and at 5.30 the ceremony began. It was very powerful as the sun came up over the rocky outcrop the Anzacs called The Sphinx. Bec got a little 'motional as the Australian national anthem was sung but Johnny's upper lip stayed stiff throughout. After the main dawn service, we headed off up the dusty trail to Lone Pine, for the Australian service. At this point, the lack of sleep really became apparent and both of us had to fight to stay awake - as did most of the crowd, it must be said.





After a shambolic coach pick-up process that took several hours, we headed back to Istanbul, and on our final day we had a tour of this unique city that spans two continents. Highlights were the Blue Mosque and of course the Grand Bazaar, where you can literally get lost in the bargains! We also had our last kebabs for a while - it seemed every meal had been a kebab!