Gallipoli and Ephesus ... what can I say?

Now that I've sort of gotten my head around the Turkish keyboard, the people at Jimmy's Artemis Guest House have "considerately" put this one in English mode. I feel sorry for the non-touch typists that pass through here. It also means I can't put the names of the towns in correctly. But I shall persevere.

I left İstanbul after reuniting with Erin and Michelle and also meeting some more festival-goers. Erin and I took an afternoon bus down to Çannakale, near Gallipoli (Gelibolu). The İstanbul bus station is completely insane, a huge ring of independent bus service providers all vying to take your money. In the end we took the next available bus, which led us on a 6 hour journey by land and sea. The luggage boy took something of a shining towards me and if I so chose I could have had a new boyfriend by the end of the bus ride. However cute he was though, he spoke no English and acted like a 4 year old (poking, punching, laughing, showing me words he recognised from my guide book, showing me video clips on his phone). Erin didn't discourage him either. But he got us tea and introduced us to the whole family (dad was a driver, brothers were driver and waiter). It was pretty comedic all round.

When we got to Çannakale, we checked into ANZAC House (not to be confused with the ANZAC Hotel), where the boys were extremely helpful and friendly. We ended up booking a tour of the Gallipoli peninsula for the next morning. There were five Aussies plus we two kiwis on the tour, and our Turkish tour guide was fantastic. He imparted so much knowledge about the campaign, and from both sides. I can't describe what it was like to set foot on the sand and clay that the soldiers were walking, living, fighting and dying on in 1915. The cemeteries are beautiful and the landscape serene, and it was so hard to imagine what it looked like during the war. We visited the major memorials and cemeteries, as well as Anzac Cove and the new dawn service site, which was being set up for the imminent hordes arriving on April 25. We had unknowingly arrived on March 18, celebrated as Victory Day in Turkey, the day that the Turks turned the British armada back from the Dardanelles. There were thousands of Turks in tour buses all over the peninsula. It was nice to see it from that side of things, and I have the utmost respect for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who led the Turkish soldiers to victory all those years ago. He was a great leader and a phenomenal speechmaker.

We were given some souvenirs that our driver had found during the day (!) - I got some shrapnel that looked surprisingly like a ball bearing, but there were also bullets (one of which was still live!), shell fragments and other parts. That night I watched Gallipoli (starring Mel Gibson and Mark Lee) for the first time. I'm still thinking about it all and can't believe the war rested on such small chances ...

Last night we took another long distance bus and arrived (after the usual mishaps) here in Selçuk. We met up with Michelle and Jez and rode bikes out to see the ruins of Efes (Ephesus). The only time I've ridden a bike since I was 10 was on Prince Edward Island in 2004, so you can imagine that things could have gone better. However, I didn't fall over like the Koh Phanang moped incident, so I can't really complain (except for the vague pain which I don't like to talk about). The ruins were fantastic, so much of the city plan is still visible, and the acoustics in the Great Theatre were amazing. The sun came out as well, which is lovely as it has been freezing here since I arrived! To see the ruin of a once great city was fascinating, to think that so much has changed in the world over the past two millenia ...