Canakkale and Gallipoli - Day Two

Another slow morning - we are on holiday after all, we grab some breakfast from the hotel buffet (damn I love the breakfasts here, the waistline likes them less. It's ok though, when we get home we'll be so poor that I will have to do the "I have $5 till Friday diet" and lose it all again), and browse the shops for a while before meeting our group.

Once again we cram into a mini bus with a bunch of Australians, and catch the ferry over to the Gallipoli Peninsula. We eat a tasty lunch at Maydos and get treated to the same delicious soup from the day before. I really need to learn how to recreate it at home. They split the group up and we head across to the simulation centre and museum.

The simulation centre is different... We are given headsets to hear the English version but the Turk version is super loud so we have to turn our headsets right up and pay close attention to understand what's being said. We are led through close to a dozen rooms, each telling a different piece of the Battle of Canakkale story. Of course it's totally from the Turkish point of view and there are a few historically dubious points... Some average writing/direction/acting... Some interesting use of various techniques, including 3D missiles, CG, etc... But over all it is very good and they are very sensitive re the ANZACs, I wish that we would acknowledge their soldiers in a similar way. 

There's one quote that makes me bloody tear up every time I hear/read it. I will find and share it later when I am not sitting on a bus.

We go through the museum once we finish up in the simulation centre. There are uniforms from all sides, as well as weapons, and models, it's interesting but we don't spend too long as we had seen similar objects in the Imperial War Museum only a few weeks prior.

Our mini van packs back up and carries us all down to the port where we are dropped off at a small boat. We climb on and motor up the coast. It's a gorgeous day without much in the way of wind. We take photo's as we pass Brighton Beach and Anzac Cove - the steep terrain is even more pronounced from the water and it's very clear that they never stood a chance. As one of the men exclaimed "An old lady and her cat could defend this place."

We kill the engine at North Beach, right next to the wrecked warship. Most is us strip down to our bathers (although only one of the other ladies join me) and I dive into the water with my mask and snorkel in hand. The water is beautiful, just cool enough to not feel like you are in a bath, but there's no chance that you'll get cold. Unfortunately it is a little murky - we're used to crystal clear now, and it's a little hard to see much of the ship from the surface or on the camera.

Willy swims up and down, checking the ship out. I balk a little bit, it feels wrong to be swimming so close to where so many people lost their lives. It just freaks me out. We get a few photo's of varying quality and paddle about for a bit before hopping back on board and heading to shore. Our group have a few beers before returning to Cannakale and going our seperate ways.

After last nights debacle, I refuse to decide on a restaurant and make Willy choose where to go for dinner. He struggles initially but we eventually end up at a little eatery with a sea view. We order fairly mainstream European dishes as that's all that any of those waterfront places seem to do but our food is very nice. We leave with full bellies and smiles on our faces.