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This morning we have bags out at 7.30am for an 8.30 am departure to go to Haggia Sophia. It is a magnificent 5th Century building which is very well preserved and beautiful.
We depart Istanbul at 10.30am to go to Gallipoli. Outside of the city the countryside is very dry. most of the middle class people live in apartments and these apartment buildings are generally built very close together in densely populated areas. We are driving along the edge of the Sea of Marmara towards Gallipoli.
We make a stop for lunch at a meatball restaurant so we all have meatballs! Next stop will be Gallipoli and Anzac Cove. We visit the site where the Anzac Day service is held, hardly looks like it would hold 10000 people but that is how many gather there each year. We walk along the beach to the landing site where there is now a cemetery and monument. It's a very grounding experience to be standing there and picturing what it must have been like for the soldiers coming ashore and facing the huge steep cliffs in front of them not to mention that they were being fired upon by the Turks. The inscriptions on the headstones are very touching and sad.
We move on and visit Lone Pine and the New Zealand and Turkish Monuments.
From here we drive to the ferry to cross from Europe into Asia. Tonight we stay in the Kolin Hotel in Canakkle on the banks of the Dardanelles It's a 5 star hotel, the room is enormous, the dinner is buffet style and very nice. A walk after dinner along the path by the water is a lovely way to finish a very moving and interesting day.
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