As an obedient little group we gathered in the foyer of our hotel on time to load our bus and proceed out of Istanbul approximately six hours driving time to Gallipoli and Cannakale. The most eventful aspect of the journey is getting out of the tiny streets of Istanbul that are strewn with vehicles and many of them are loading and unloading goods to the shops along the way. It is a bustling crazy busy scene. We keep reminding ourselves that Istanbul is a city of 15 million people and Turkey's population is in excess of 75 million. No wonder we ran into a traffic jam and crowds of people at the various venues yesterday.
We stopped at a couple of roadhouses along the highway which stretches out to the south-west and down onto the Peninsula that leads to a narrow strip of land and the Dardanelles. Those who are looking for Turkish cuisine along the way were sadly disappointed the food was very similar to your average Shell Roadhouse - well some of our folk thought so anyway. Most of us found something local and interesting to eat.
We arrived at Gallipoli town (spelt Gelibolu locally) and the caught the car / bus ferry across to Cannakale. We are now therefore in the Asian section of Turkey which occupies 97% of the land mass, sometimes called Asia Minor or little Asia.
The hotel Kolin is a modern plush 5 star resort and its grounds stretch out to the sea across from Anzac Cove. We arrived early enough in the afternoon to relax, some to go shopping and others took a dip in one of the hotel's pools and dried off on the sundeck. After worship, which included the singing of the national anthems of Australia and New Zealand and prayers particularly focused on our defence forces past and present and the bid for peace in the world, we then made our way through the endless corridors from the foyer and dining rooms to our buffet dinner. The array of food and its presentation was a sight to behold - this hotel is really some place!
Tomorrow we head for Anzac Cove and the Gallipoli landing beaches.
We stopped at a couple of roadhouses along the highway which stretches out to the south-west and down onto the Peninsula that leads to a narrow strip of land and the Dardanelles. Those who are looking for Turkish cuisine along the way were sadly disappointed the food was very similar to your average Shell Roadhouse - well some of our folk thought so anyway. Most of us found something local and interesting to eat.
We arrived at Gallipoli town (spelt Gelibolu locally) and the caught the car / bus ferry across to Cannakale. We are now therefore in the Asian section of Turkey which occupies 97% of the land mass, sometimes called Asia Minor or little Asia.
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| Steve relaxing on the ferry to Cannakale |
The hotel Kolin is a modern plush 5 star resort and its grounds stretch out to the sea across from Anzac Cove. We arrived early enough in the afternoon to relax, some to go shopping and others took a dip in one of the hotel's pools and dried off on the sundeck. After worship, which included the singing of the national anthems of Australia and New Zealand and prayers particularly focused on our defence forces past and present and the bid for peace in the world, we then made our way through the endless corridors from the foyer and dining rooms to our buffet dinner. The array of food and its presentation was a sight to behold - this hotel is really some place!
Tomorrow we head for Anzac Cove and the Gallipoli landing beaches.
I have been following your adventures with great interest ,you write a good blog , and now with photo's too. Lets see if you get this comment , none of my other replies have shown up .Mitch
ReplyDeleteHi Mitch,
DeleteWhat a joy to know you are following our trekking. We hope that your big brother is behaving himself in eastern Turkey for these few days, we lok forward to hearing all about their journeying. Hope you are well. Kind regards Ray