bazaar records

Sorry for the dead air everyone! It has been a few days of transition so the updates haven’t been forthcoming. But here is a couple of rapid fire ones to fill in the gaps.

Monday was our last day in Istanbul and Turkey. But like the previous day, we didn’t feel the need to achieve much. We were still fairly exhausted from our travels, so we just spent the day doing some more wandering and some last minute shopping.

Since it was closed the day before, we decided to spend more time exploring the Grand Bazaar. We really only spent an hour or so last time we visited, so we felt we really needed to dedicate a bit more time to it. Not that we really had anything particular we wanted to buy but we just wanted to see everything it had to offer.

During our wandering, we found basically more of the same… clothes, carpets, jewellery, lamps, hats… you name it, we found it. I even found a record store (of sorts)! But nothing besides a few small trinkets really jumped out at us. I wasn’t even tempted by the ubiquitous calls of “Sir! Interested in any genuine fake watches?”.

creepy little dudes

We also did a bit more wandering about the Spice Market and really just enjoying our last day in Istanbul. Nearby was the textiles area. Super creepy little mannequins were everywhere!

While we were exhausted, and overwhelmed by the number of people, we felt very fortunate to have visited Istanbul. Time to get a good nights sleep before heading back to London.

views from the bosphorous

Kate and I were both well and truly exhausted by the end of the tour. I don’t sleep that much at the best of times, but combined with lots of adventures, having a cold/flu like illness for the past week, I was feeling pretty exhausted. Kate was also lacking her fairly regular 10 hour sleep days, so we had a very lazy start to the day.

That was OK though, as we had already spent 3 full days in Istanbul, and we had ticked off the major things we wanted to do. So our last 2 days here would be pretty relaxed.

Today we decided to jump on a ferry ride on the Bosphorous for a couple of hours. Istanbul is a remarkable city in that it is split amongst a number of bits of land separated by a few bodies of water. The Bosphorous is one, that leads to the Black Sea. So we decided to have a relaxing trip up the Bosphorous, not quite to the end.

palace by the water

We just sat back and chilled out, seeing some more sites of Istanbul from the gentle ferry. There was no commentary or guide, so we had to rely on our trusty Lonely Planet to fill in some gaps.

mosque with a view

On the way we was landmarks like Dolmabache Palace, Ciragan Palace, and a number of Mosques. Talk about a picturesque place to worship.

forts keeping an eye on things

The turn around point was the Faith Bridge. It is flanked by two small forts, the Rumeli Hisari and the Andalou Hisari. I guess just in case there is any influx of dodgy folk again.

watch out bond!

On the return we also saw a small lighthouse called Kiz Kulesi which according to our guidebook was in The World Is Not Enough. Seems Bond loves Istanbul.

By this time we pulled back into dock and our trip was up. Kate and I just decided to spend the next few hours wandering about. We made our way back through the nearby Spice Market, not too tempted by all the tasty treats that lie within. Maybe it was Turkish fatigue setting in, that ordinarily I would be all over that sweet Turkish Delight, but right now was happy just to soak up all the atmosphere and leave the delight for another day.

We also visited one of the small markets near the Blue Mosque for a peruse, where Kate found herself a very cool silver coffee pot that will look good in our place.

Otherwise that was the extent of our day. After such a hectic last couple of weeks, a low key day was nice. We met up with some of the remaining folk from our tour (Bec, Cathy and Leesa) for a nice dinner, and said goodbye to one more member of our tour. With one final day to spend in Istanbul, I imagine it would be the same tomorrow… another relaxed day to soak up our last time in Istanbul and Turkey.

ANZAC Cove

Today was pretty much our last day of the tour. While we technically would all be finishing up tomorrow, the reality is that some of would be staying on, some would be heading out on another connecting tour, and others would be flying home. So today was the last day really being spent with each other.

It was fitting that the last day us Aussies would be spending together would be a visit to Gallipoli. We started the day in Canakkale, leaving the hotel nice and early so we could catch a ferry across to the other side of the water (technically back into Europe) and have the short drive to the Gallipoli peninsula. I wasn’t sure what to expect, since it is an important site for both the ANZACs and the Turks who were fighting each other.

the original beach

We first arrived at the peninsula, and Ibo gave us another history lesson, this time much of which was know to many of us. We first saw the beach where the allied troops were supposed to land (a much more hospitable piece of land), before making our way up to ANZAC Cove, the site of the actual beach landing.

an imposing site

ANZAC Cove is exactly the opposite of the first beach… an unpleasant, steep climb up the side of rocky and tree-lined terrain. It is no wonder it was a bit of a doomed mission.

the first of many cemeteries

There are a number of memorials around the area, with about 5 or 6 cemeteries dedicated to the allied troops (predominantly ANZACs). The range from quite small, up to the main one at Lone Pine.

paying respects

ANZAC Cove is the site of the ANZAC Day service here and has the serenity you would expect. All you hear is the water in the background, and you see a simple memorial recognising the site. It is touching and a but surreal all at once.

lone pine

lone pine, the main memorial

The Lone Pine cemetery is the largest to the ANZACs on the peninsula. A single tree surrounded by graves and a memorial marks the site. A few hundred ANZACs who lost their lives are buried. Even though the memorial is the largest of the ANZAC sites, it is still very modest, and a fitting tribute.

trenches still intact

We kept making our way around the site. Still present were many of the trenches dug by both the ANZACs and the Turks. The ANZAC trenches were much more haphazard, owing to the nature of the circumstances under which they were being dug.

turkish memorial

Near the top of the area is one of the only Turkish memorial sites. While this is of extreme significance to the ANZACs, it is also significant to the Turks who we were fighting against. There was much at stake, and this site was an arm wrestle for the 9 months or so in which battles were being waged.

The ubiquitous Ataturk was a major figure here, and was also very responsible for making this site as a place of respect to both sides. A landmark speech is commemorated on a monument here, indicating that regardless of what happened in the war, that this should be a place of mourning for all.

kiwi memorial

There was also a nice monument to some fallen Kiwis who took an important hill for a couple of days during the fighting. It was nice and also quite strange in that one monument recognised the Kiwis that took it (along with the nearby cemetery) while there was also recognition of the Turks that took it back. Fascinating to see two sides of the story sharing the same stage.

All the Aussies were pretty quiet when it came time to get back on the bus. Ahead of us was about 6 hours of driving, to get to our official end point, Istanbul. With a few ice cream stops in there, we arrived thick into the Istanbul traffic which was chaos. Lucky it was a quiet Saturday afternoon.

Our night was pretty low key. Most of us had one last group dinner, with a handful kicking on. However it seemed most people were either sick or exhausted (or both), so for many it was sad farewells in the hotel lobby. It is always a weird time at the end of the tour. There are those you are super sad to leave, others not quite as much. But we had all had some amazing experiences together, and for that they will always be part of our Turkish adventure.

us and some random wooded horse

It was dawning on us all that the end of the trip was fast approaching. In only a couple of days our two week Turkey adventure would be all over and we would all be going back to whatever normal lives awaited. Well, some were heading to the other side of Turkey on another G Adventures trip, but most were winding up their holidays and heading home.

But today, another major archeological site was on the itinerary… Troy. Yep, that Troy. No, it’s not in Greece as many think it is, but rather just near the coast, near the seaside city of Canakkale. So yet another slow morning (which was alright by us) meant that we reached our first stop about lunchtime.

Troy was a pretty exciting one for most of us, given it is such a famous story. Even those that didn’t know all the detail at least knew the general gist of things… beautiful woman, big horse, fighting, Brad Pitt. So we were all geared up to explore the site.

the less spectacular ruins of Troy

Ibo was our guide and spent the next hour showing us the site and telling us all the stories. It was great that we had him, as unlike the ruins of the past few days (especially Ephesus and Pammukale), this was quite sparse. in fact there wasn’t really a whole lot to see.

a gate into Troy

The main path takes you about the site, and points out ruins from different stages in Troy’s history. There was in fact 9 Troys that have existed, all built on top of each other. As you go, different ruins are showing from different periods, but it was nothing like the ruins of the other cities we had seen.

troy parliament

It wasn’t that it was a let down, more anti-climactic. For a site with such a rich story, there is actually not that much to see. It was great to go to the actual site, but in terms of spectacle, we had been spoiled by this point.

that’s a big horse!

Of course there is a big horse though. What did you expect? Kate and I climbed to the top to get our cheesy photo.

clowns inside a big wooden horse

We also took the opportunity to dress up in Roman garb and get some more cheesy tourist photos. Alas I don’t have them handy to show you sorry readers. You will just have to wait.

wandering the harbour

From Troy, we made our way into the city of Canakkale, what would be our gateway back to Istanbul tomorrow. But for the rest of the day we had time to relax and explore. Canakkale is a university town mostly, as well as location for ferries and more beach. Kate and I just wandered the waterside, looking for ice cream.

this one looks cooler, but alas, no place to climb in

Also on the water is another wooden horse, this one actually a gift of Warner Brothers. Yep, it was the wooden horse used in the film. This one looked much cooler than the one on the actual site, although you couldn’t climb in it. I guess we are to assume the soldiers are still hiding in there.

Dinner time had arrived, so it was time for some more seafood, especially since it would be back to the city tomorrow. Many of us continued to hang out for the evening, heading to a live music bar called Hayal Kahvesi. It seemed everyone (except us) knew all the words to all the songs. But it didn’t matter, we all rocked out for a bit, enjoying our penultimate night together and then calling it a night in preparation for a long, busy, and emotional day tomorrow.

sea of umbrellas

Hi everyone! A couple of smaller, quieter, posts for you all.

By this time we are on the home stretch of our trip around Turkey. Having just done the big historical sites, it is time to wind our way back toward Istanbul. Today was very much just a day of taking a step toward our final destinations of Troy, Gallipoli, and finally Istanbul. So all we really did today was spend a fe hours driving along the coast to the seaside town of Ayvalik.

Ayvalik is not really known for much, mostly just as a nice seaside village. So after a lazy start to the day, we arrived in mid afternoon at our nice little hotel, which was a converted family house. With small, share, bedrooms and communal areas, it was going to be the perfect place to just have a relaxing evening.

Rather than sit around, a bunch of us decided to head to the nearby beach. So we braved the public transport (reminiscent of some buses in Central America, where it is just “squeeze! squeeze!” to get on) and spent a sweaty 20 minutes on a crowded bus to arrive.

the not quite as nice beach

The beach was at Sarim Sakli, and I can’t say it was the greatest I have ever been to, especially with the spoils of the past few days. The beach area almost looks desert, with large expanses of dirty brown sand. The waterfront area was packed, and we secured some chairs and umbrellas and proceeded to hang out for the next couple of hours, swimming and relaxing.

pier shenanigans

The water was much colder than I was used to from the previous days, and the colour certainly wasn’t what we had on the boat. But I was swimming in a foreign country, so who was I to complain?

When we were done, we all headed back into town to visit the Farmers Markets to get some food for our dinner spread. Rather than head out to a restaurant, since we had our own kitchen we decided to go with bread, cheese, mezzes, baclava, wine, beer… all the essentials.

We had an awesome array of food and the rest of the night was spent nice and relaxed… eating and drinking into the night.