Today was the day to visit Troy. To go from the recent wars to the ancient. With the common link of the view to control the Dardenelles/Hellespont (for different reasons). It is a peninsular that encourages the desire to control-for wealth, strategy and resources. We stopped firstly in Canakkale Museum which houses some of the findings from Troy. Then Troy itself. Its a working archaeological site (which needs funding). You need a bit of imagination and a good ...

After visiting Gallipoli we stayed in Cannakale, the nearest town. It is also on the way to Troy. The town was given the horse from the movie Troy but sadly no Brad Pitt. The horse is proudly displayed in the city centre. A quiet night turned into a bit of a night on the town complete with tequila shots and dancing to techno.

Gallipoli. Anzac Cove. Lone Pine. Chanuk bair. The Gallipoli peninsular is now a peace park and is dotted with memorials dedicated to the 130,000 approx soldiers who died there in WWI. My group visited the important spots and spent about 3hours on the peninsular, including the NZ, Oz and Turk memorials. The phrase coined by Atarurk in 1938 sums up the feeling- "Those heros that shed their blood and lost their lives, you are now lying in the soil of a friendly cou...

Im having a glass of red wine in a side street in the old town of Istanbul. I am hoping it will help counteract the minor jet lag I have. I also have a ticket to visit the Basillica Cistern so need to get off my ass and see it before I fall asleep or order the rest of the bottle. It is only lunchtime. I have also been asked out by the proprietor of the restaurant for a drink later tonight (Turkish men-very very forward). Time to pull out the fake wedding ring tri...

On my way to Istanbul from Brussels. Its been over three weeks since Ive been on a plane which meant having to repack bags, move the tweezers and nail scissors to check in luggage (you cant be giving the pilot a manicure midflight after all) and rearranging liquids. I have a bizzare mix of liquids in the clear bag-the guy in security gave me a weird look as I just throw everything in together. Im using a low cost Turkish airline. So far I have managed to check i...