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Oh my goodness. It's only day two and I am totally exhausted. With very little sleep the breakfast buffet was really impressive. I had a chance to really look over the open areas of the restaurant. Pinat (waitress) had given me a small tour yesterday and I was truly impressed. Everything was absolutely delicious also.
Abdullah had loaded all that heavy luggage onto the bus (our group consists of 31 women and 1 male), we were off.
Berna narrated as we drove along the shores of the Sea of Marmara on to teh peninsula of Gelibolu, better know to us as Gallipoli.
We made a rest stop at a small local store. There were very nice locally made purses, candy and other trinkets.
Gallipoli is a district in Çanakkale Province of the Marmara region, located in Eastern Thrace in the European part of Turkey on the southern shore of the peninsula named after it on the Dardanelles strait, two miles away from Lapseki on the other shore.
The Macedonian city of Callipolis was founded in the 5th century B.C. It has a rich history as a naval base for various rulers. The emperor Justinian I fortified Gallipoli and established important military warehouses for corn and wine there, of which some Byzantine ruins can still be seen. After the capture of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204, Gallipoli passed into the power of Venice. In 1294 the Genoese defeated a Venetian force in the neighbourhood. A body of Almogavars, under Roger de Flor, established themselves here in 1306, and after the death of their leader massacred almost all the citizens; they were vainly besieged by the allied troops of Venice and the Empire, and withdrew in 1307, after dismantling the fortifications. After the city's defenses were damaged in earthquake, it was conquered by Turks in 1354 and became the first part of the Ottoman empire in Europe. Bayezid I (1389-1403) built a castle and tower there which can still be seen. In 1416 the Venetians under Pietro Loredan defeated the Turks here. Gallipoli is the site of "tombs of the Thracian kings", which refers to the graves of the Islamic writers Ahmed Bican (died 1466) and his brother Mehmed Bican (died 1451).
In 1854 the town was occupied by the allied French and British armies during the Crimean War who strengthened the defensive constructions from 1357. Many soldiers died there of cholera and are buried in a local cemetery. The guns of Gallipoli guarded the sea of Marmara until 1878 when more fortifications were built when the Russians threatened to take possession of Constantinople. Gelibolu was the original center of Kaptanpaşa Eyalet; between 1864 and 1920 the town was the sanjak center in Edirne vilayet. In 1904 the Greek bishopric of Kallipolis was promoted to a metropolis and is listed under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The Bulgarian Army threatened Gelibolu during the First Balkan War and advanced to Bolayır in 1912. During the First World War the peninsula and the town were witness to a series of memorable battles (see Gallipoli Campaign). The town was occupied by Greeks between 1920-1922, and finally returned to Turkey in 1923 under the Treaty of Lausanne. Like the island Imbros off the western shore of the peninsula, Gallipoli had had a majority of Greek inhabitants prior to WWI and thus was exempted in article 2 from the Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations (1923). Between 1922 and 1926 the town was a provincial center and the districts of Gelibolu, Eceabat, Keşan (Enez became part of Keşan before 1953) and Şarköy.
Gelibolu is now a district center in the province of Çanakkale. The population of the district is 44,697 where 28,326 live in the center of the district (as of 2010) The mayor is Münir Mustafa Özacar (CHP). Gelibolu is well known for sardine canning.
We made out way to the Anzac Cove which is a small cove on the Gallipoli peninsula. It became famous as the site of World War I landing of the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) on 25 April 1915. The cove is a mere 600 metres (2,000 ft) long, bounded by the headlands of Ari Burnu to the north and Little Ari Burnu, known as Hell Spit, to the south. Following the landing at Anzac Cove, the beach became the main base for the Australian and New Zealand troops for the eight months of the Battle of Gallipoli.
We then headed over to the Lone Pine Cemetery.
Lone Pine Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery dating from World War I in the former ANZAC sector of the Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey and the location of the Lone Pine Memorial, one of five memorials on the peninsula which commemorate servicemen of the former British Empire killed in the campaign but who have no known grave.
The battles at Gallipoli, some of whose participating soldiers are buried at this cemetery, was an eight month campaign fought by Commonwealth and French forces against Ottoman Empire forces to force the Ottoman Empire out of the war. The campaign started with an attempt to force the Dardanelles using naval power, but when this failed an invasion of the peninsula was launched to assist a renewed naval assault. The invasion was unsuccessful and the allies withdrew.
The main landings were in April 1915, with primarily British and French troops landing at the tip of the peninsula around Cape Helles and Australian and New Zealand (ANZAC) troops landing a few miles north on the west coast.
Lone Pine was a plateau 120 metres above sea level in the southern part of the Anzac sector which was captured on the morning of the landings, 25 April 1915, and abandoned that evening, but recaptured the following day only to be given up to the Turkish forces again that evening. The Turks retained it for the next three months, calling it Kanli Sirt (Bloody Ridge).
The position was recaptured by the Anzac troops on 6 August following extensive preparations (which included the digging of mines underneath it) during the Battle of Lone Pine, and held until the evacuation of the sector in December 1915.
The cemetery was constructed during the campaign and at the end of it held 46 graves. It was greatly enlarged after the Armistice by moving isolated graves into it and by consolidating other smaller cemeteries in the area, such as Brown's Dip North and South Cemeteries.
The Lone Pine Memorial commemorates 4,934 Australian and New Zealand troops killed in the sector but who have no known grave. In addition special memorials commemorate 182 Australian and 1 British soldier thought to be buried in the cemetery but whose graves have not been identified.
We spent quite a bit of time here and took lots and lots of pictures.
We then took a feribot (ferry) ride, bus and all, over to Canakkale. From the Europe to Asia.
We stopped at a local restaurant for lunch. The food, though very different, was very good. After lunch we strolled around the back to take lots of pictures of the sea.
The drive to our hotel was very long and we were all just plain tired. We are staying at the Adrina Hotel for the night. Dinner was okay, but it did not compare to the Hyatt's breakfast. Kinda glad I packed a case of soda and water. Sodas aren't included with our meals and so far, are $4 each. That's $48 for a case. Unbelieveable. I absolutely love this okra dish they had on the buffet. I had to get seconds.
There is a small gift shoppe here that had the most wonderful soaps and they were very inexpensive. I am glad I found these, as I may not find locally made soaps during the rest of the trip.
Outside our hotel room was a basketball court. Thank goodness, no one was playing ball, as Bunny and I were looking to get just a few hours of sleep.
- comments
joyce it sound like your having a lot of fun.
David Deb, this sounds like a great trip. I may have to visit there myself.