Gallipoli and Troy

If I had asked two friends in the States on a Friday morning if they wanted to take a 6 hour bus at midnight that night 215 miles to the coast on a random whim, spend a single night there, and take the same bus back the following afternoon, they would probably have told me to piss off.

But one of the advantages of being on the program I'm on is that there is always someone willing to drop everything and join you for a mini adventure. In this case, Emily and Hillary agreed to join me for my little excursion.

We didn't book a ticket in advance, but took the 43R bus to Kabataş, the Tramway to Yusufpaşa, and the Metro to Büyük Otogar, Istanbul's main bus terminal. The complex is massive, and its a damn good thing we sort of knew which bus line to get on (though Metro Turizm has about 8 different store fronts in the Otogar complex). We arrived at the station on Friday night, around 10:30pm. We got 43TL tickets for 12:15AM, a few hours later.

We all passed out on the bus. I woke up around 5am, and we pulled into our stop around 5:30am.

6 hours to the west of Istanbul is the Dardanelles, the straits on the other side of the Sea of Marmara. To get from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, you must pass through the Dardanelles, as well as the Bosporus. We couldn't find lodging on Friday afternoon for Saturday night in Çanakkale, the larger city on the Asian side of the straits, so we ended up staying in Eceabat, a small fishing town on the European side.

When we arrived, the sun hadn't yet come up, but the light was starting to peek over the hills on the Asian side of the straits, and we stood on the shore and watched for a while until the light had sufficiently saturated the sky and was no longer the watercolor painting-like sight to behold that captivates one during a sunrise.

The hostel we booked, the Crowded House (which did not live up to the name), had no real directions for how to get there. They told us they were 150m from the ferry terminal, which was about 50m from where we were dropped off. So we wandering a little until Hillary noticed the sign "Crowded House Hotel" on a tall building just on the other side of the pitiful main square that constitutes the Eceabat town center.

For only 7 Euro per night, the Crowded House dorm room is very clean and well maintained. We even had a private bathroom for the dorm room. We arrived there around 6 in the morning, and quickly organized a tour of Gallipoli for 12:30 the same day, so went upstairs to nap for a while.

While Emily and Hillary slept, I was unable to. I spent the time instead planning and figuring out transportation for next weekend, which I plan to spend in Tbilisi, Georgia, at Peter's Why Not? Hostel over there (he'll be there at the time, too, so that's good as well). I wanted to do something with someone in my program, but no one has their residents permit yet except me (a story for another post). So I decided to meet Peter in Georgia. I found a cheap flight with Pegasus airlines, but my card wasn't going through, and wouldn't until late that evening.

I got a few winks of shuteye in, but we were up by 11am and wandered Eceabat, looking for a little food. We got some Köfte sandwiches and made it back to the hostel just before 12:30. Here we met our guide, with a name I can't remember, but it sounded like Bill. We also met the two other people on our tour, Australians Sarah and Geoff, both solo travelers.

Speaking of Aussies, Eceabat and Çanakkale are completely geared towards Australians and New Zealanders. For good reason; The Gallipoli Campaign is one of the bloodiest in Australia and New Zealand's histories, and is a common place to visit when in the region for Aussies and Kiwis. But Eceabat brings the catering to a new level. Stickers in every window, hostels named after places in Australia, planters in the square sculpted to resemble kangaroos. Really interesting.

Bill brought us to a place for lunch (though we had just had something small) and let us eat (included in the 60TL tour price) together for a bit. Emily and Hillary and I laughed at how we had eaten at the same restaurant not 6 hours before when we stopped by for a quick Kahvaltı (breakfast) that morning.

Next we hopped on a bus bound for Gallipoli. It was only 10 minutes away, our first stop at least, but up and down a few big hills and along a fairly windy road.

The Gallipoli Campaign took place in 1915, from the 18th of March until about 9 months later. It was a bloodbath for both sides. ANZAC, the Australian New Zealand Army Corps, sustained horrible losses between the three front battles they were fighting, as did the Ottoman forces on the opposing side, led by the now-infamous Mustafa Kamal Atatürk. We were there to find out how and why (and to enjoy what is now a gorgeous national park that, without its bloody history and endless monuments to that history dotting the hillsides, could be one of the most fantastic parks I've ever seen).

Our first stop was Brighton Beach, a beautiful sandy beach on the Aegean, where the first ANZAC landing forces were supposed to arrive. The location was ideal: an easy landing on a beach, quick fighting along the flat terrain and smooth, obstacle-free (besides the opposition forces) sailing all the way across to the other side of the peninsula. If they had landed on Brighton Beach and managed to accomplish this feat, ANZAC would have probably secured a quick victory without much bloodshed. This would have put the Dardanelles under Allied control and would have meant a then-unobstructed route to Istanbul (the Ottoman had no navy at the time, so needed to keep the Dardanelles at all costs to protect their capital).

But the ANZAC forces didn't land on Brighton Beach. Landed farther up at present-day ANZAC Cove in the middle of the night (a fatal error), against a steep hillside, which led them into a terrible and bloody extended altercation. This was our second stop, the ANZAC landing site. Here we found bleachers under construction, as ANZAC day is fast approaching, on April 25. On that day, Aussies and Kiwis will descent on the area and participate in the annual commemoration of the soldiers lost at Gallipoli. I would go back for it, but my program will be taking me to the Black Sea region for spring break that week.

We stopped at several graveyards, which cover only the soldiers whose bodies they could identify or find. There are many more that are just listed on a group memorial. It's really quite sad. I only found two Jews in any of the graveyards (denoted by a Star of David in lieu of the usual crucifix) we saw. I wasn't surprised at so few - Jews didn't migrate to Australia or New Zealand in great numbers until after WWII. I left a few stones for them.

As we reached the ridges of one of the 'fingers' that protrudes out from the highest point in the area (one of the major objectives of the Campaign), the road was following the path of the no-mans land between the opposing trenches. To the right, we could see the remnants of the Ottoman line, and to the left, the remnants of the ANZAC line. The Trenches have filled in a lot, but you can still tell where they were and, especially, how close they were to each other. I could have a normal-tone conversation with a soldier on the other side, if I wanted. In fact, many soldiers did. They would pass food back and forth sometimes, or tell jokes, or hold up dolls for their enemies to shoot at, etc.

We got back from Gallipoli around 5, and took a siesta. Just before 7, Geoff and Sarah and the three of us met up in the Hostel lobby and caught the 7pm ferry to Çanakkale for dinner. Across the Dardanelles. Casual dining in Asia never gets old.

In Çanakkale, we found the first hints of the following day's adventure to Troy. We took a left out of the Ferry terminal and wandered for a bit, stumbling across a large statue of a Trojan Horse. I took a picture, and we moved on. It wasn't until later that we realized this was the horse used in the 2008 movie Troy.

Dinner was at a place recommended in Emily and Hillary's Lonely Planet guides. We got Pide and Lahmacun, both because it was the specialty of the place we were at, and because Geoff and Sarah both were hopelessly unaware of some of the finer points of Turkish cuisine. Though not totally without redeeming qualities - after dinner, Geoff brought us to a fantastic Pastanesi that he had discovered the day before, which makes a local delicacy, Peynir Helvası.

Peynir Helvası translates roughly to "cheese dessert." The food comes in two forms. Either baked, with a golden brown and crunchy exterior and a warm gooey center, or uncooked, where the consistency is more like fluffy cookie dough. Basically the thing is made with a combination of cheese, sugar, and flour. Incredible and artery clogging.

We stopped at a Nargile cafe for a few hours and made the 11pm ferry back to Europe.

I passed out by midnight.


We woke up on Sunday at 7am. We lost an hour of the sleep in the night due to daylight savings time. Groggily we got up, packed up, and checked out. Leaving our stuff in the Hostel, we set out for a half-day of adventures.

We got on the 8am ferry, making it to Çanakkale by 8:30. We walked down the main street to the second light, and took a right. We continued to walk until we reached a small bridge. Here, we both read and heard from a man who was in our room when we first arrived at the hostel but checked out that day, we would find Marshrutkas (here they call them Dolmuş) that would take us to Troy on the cheap. The first one left at 9:30, so we went to get breakfast.

Breakfast at Simit Evi, a little bakery near the departure point. Really funny guy behind the counter thought we were Azerbaijani.

Our bus didn't leave at 9:30, but at 10. Looks like we misread the sign. But no matter, we made it to Troy by 10:30, and for 5TL each.

We were going to pay for a tour, but everyone had told us that A) Troy wasn't all that great, B) It was mostly speculation anyways, and C) Everything was labeled and explained there, so you didn't need a guide. We took their advice. Got in through the gates for free with our handy Müzekart (another big savings... these 10TL cards have at this point saved me 80TL or so with all of the places I get into for free and/or with discounts).

The first thing you see when you walk into Troy is the horse. It was built several years ago by the Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı as a publicity stunt. I'm a huge fan. It's an ugly horse, to be sure, and with the 7 windows on each side and the huge hump to accommodate more people inside, I would be fairly certain a true Trojan would not have accepted the gift. Oh, and there's stairs that allow you to climb inside. Of course, we did. It was awesome.

Next were the actual ruins. Troy consists of something like 9 layers of different cities built on top of each other. As sediment crept up the old city walls, they built more on top. As one bit collapsed, they build newer bits on the old foundations. The city was inhabited for something like 3,500 years, and not after 500AD (which means, well, old).

Aside from the name and the layering of different eras of Troy, there wasn't anything about this set of ruins that really sets it apart from others in the region. And the fact that it is Troy is still up for a little debate. It was found by an overzealous man named Heinrich Schliemann who used clues from the Iliad to find it in the late 19th century. So... it may be historical, it may not be. We just don't totally know.

Emily and Hillary and I ran through the ruins, snapping photos and reading plaques. We wanted to get the noon dolmuş back, so we had time to do one more thing before we got the 16:15 bus back that we had booked upon our arrival to Eceabat.

The dolmuş was a tad late, but we made it back to Çanakkale around 12:30 and proceeded to hike back to the ferry. We missed the one to Eceabat by about 50m/30 seconds. Big shame. But instead of going to Eceabat to get a dolmuş to Kilitbahir, we found a ferry bound directly for Kilitbahir. There we walked along the water to a fortress built in 1463 at the European side of the narrowest point of the Dardanelles. Kilitbahir Fortress has a set of walls on whose ramparts you can walk, but there are no safety nets or hand rails, just dangerous stairs and sloping, crumbling rocks. A sign next to the first set of steps warns: For safety and security reasons, those with heart disease, hypertension and vertigo are strongly urged not to climb the stairs of the Kilitbahir Fortress.

Of course we walked on it anyway. It was really cool. Hillary twisted her ankle a bit and almost fell off, and the wind had us all swaying a bunch, but it was fine, and we made it down without incident.

We had lunch at Eminönü Balıkçisi, a fish and köfte place just outside the fortress. The man grilling was a real Usta (master), and so was his (presumably) wife, who made the sandwiches inside. She made köfte and fish sandwiches that were to die for. Incredibly done.

Quick dolmuş ride back to Eceabat and we were ready for the bus, which arrived a little after 16:15. We took our seats. I pulled out my iPad and discovered fairly high speed wifi on the bus, which allowed me to skype home, as well as my friend Mingwei, who was visiting my house and housemates in St. Louis this week. I also slept a lot of the bus ride.

We arrived back in Istanbul a little after 10, and made our way back to the Superdorm, arriving there around 11:30. It was a hell of a two days, but so much fun. I crashed around 3am, after uploading a ton of photos to facebook.