Gallipoli defines ANZAC. It is what D-Day is to Americans. We had to go. The Turkish government appears to have held the entire Gallipoli Penninsula as a National Park/Cemetery/Memorial. It is hard to believe that this beautiful spot next to the crystal clear Agean Sea saw such catastrophe. It is also hard to believe why in the world a) this penninsula is the key to taking over Asia Minor and b) you would pick this spot to attack. The ANZAC Cove, where most of the Australia and New Zealand troops landed to try to take Gallipoli at the start of their 9 month campaign, doesn't really have a beach. It is a small patch of beach that immediately meets a steep hill. No wonder these guys had no luck!
It took only a small part of our day to visit, and we didn't visit many of the trenches or cemeteries just due to rough roads or time limitations, but the bit we did see made me just want to watch the Mel Gibson movie of the same name. It is incredible.
We had to travel 450 kms and Google Maps said it would take 6.5 hours, so we had to hustle a wee bit. After we got on the ferry, and crossed from the European side of Turkey to the Asian side, Just 40 kms away, we made it to the ruins of Troy.
No, Troy is not completely mythological. In fact, it isn't just one city. There were 9 versions of Troy, built one on top of each other. The oldest version was from 2500 BC. At first, I thought, nah, this isn't very big. It looks nothing like the Troy from that Brad Pitt movie. It is way too small. That is until we started to encircle the enclosure. This certainly wasn't a small town. It was quite large and complex. Plus, because they built one city on top of the other, you can just see archaeological developments side by side with their predecessors. How cool to think we've been to Troy!!
We then power drove the remaining 4 hours to the city of Selcuk (again, mostly in the dark), so we can see the ancient city of Ephesus.
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