17th - 27th April 2019
We landed at Turkey's brand new airport terminal, which only opened 2 weeks ago, before starting the hour long journey to Istanbul. We had a couple of hours to get settled before meeting up with our new group at a 7pm briefing. The reason we picked this specific tour is to celebrate ANZAC day at Gallipoli. For those reading who are not familiar with ANZAC day, we mourn the fallen who landed at the shores of Gallipoli during WWI on 25th April 1915. ANZAC, meaning Australia & New Zealand Army Corps, is a term we use to honor those who fought for us and now celebrate the 25th April as a national day of remembrance. Unsurprisingly the tour group was mostly Aussies with one German family whose Dad was from Australia and wanted his family to experience this part of their heritage. So we all gathered at 7pm for a quick hello and an itinerary overview before calling it a night.
The next day we gathered in the bus and set off for our 700km drive east towards Cappadocia. All we knew of Cappadocia was the fact the region is famous for it's hot air balloons. Boy were we about to get an interesting history lesson. It was an all day drive with many naps along the way and gave us time to start to break the ice with our fellow travellers. To our surprise Turkey was unseasonably cold and we found ourselves with heavy snowfall which meant the hot air balloons were not flying. The following morning our first stop was to visit the underground city of Kaymakli. Carved directly into the mountains over the centuries, Kaymakli is a labyrinth of underground passageways, storage rooms and staircases dating back to the 7th century BC. It was expanded many times over the centuries and finally opened to the public in 1964.
We finished off our day at the snow covered pigeon valley & the beautiful Goreme National Park. The valley is a small valley were small holes have been excavated on the rock so pigeons would go there to lay their eggs. People would eat the eggs and use the poop for fertiliser. Today the pigeons have the run of things and flock to the parking lot to get fed by the tourists. Home to the Fairy Chimney rock formations, Goreme National Park's first known inhabitants date back to 1200 BC.The site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985. That evening we enjoyed a Turkish dinner and show in an underground cave restaurant complete with traditional dancers, including some belly dancers, and quite a few Raki's (the local firewater).
The next day was a travel day heading towards Pamukkale. We spent the afternoon in Konya at the Mevlana museum, also known as the Green Mausoleum, which was the Mausoleum of a 13th century Sultan and his family. Our last stop before reaching our final destination was an authentic pottery workshop where replica Ottoman pottery is made. We got a live action view of how a sugar bowl was made which highlighted the mastery and precision that goes into such works. We arrived in Pamukkale that evening and our hotel had a natural hot spring outside. A lot of the group braved the cooler weather to don their swimmers and jump into the 40 degree hot pool which was heaven.
The following day we visited the famous calcium terraces which are surrounded by Roman ruins. Unfortunately due to the lack of water at this time of year, not all the terraces were filled which left a lot of the natural pools dry and barren. From the hilltop we had uninterrupted views of the valley and all the hot air balloons as the floated in the air. I rolled up my jeans and walked into one of the hot springs with the clay between my toes while other visitors opted to take a dip in one of the pools. We ventured inland towards the ruins and found remnants of a roman theatre and parts of the town. It was here on this mountain we saw our first poppies blooming in the fields.
We spent the afternoon at the legendary ruins of Ephesus. Originally built by the Ancient Greeks in 1000 BC the Temple of Artemis, one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world, was built (and completely destroyed) here. The Romans took over the city in 129 BC rebuilding to the stage where it was named the Capital of the Eastern Roman empire, before the Goths destroyed the city in the 3rd century and Constantinople took over as the capital. The city was abandoned in the 15th century and then rediscovered and excavated from 1869 until today. At it's peak nearly 250,000 people lived here and famous figures like Mark Antony and Cleopatra visited her streets. Nowadays its just an incredible reminder of the beauty and brilliance of the classical civilizations.
We travelled onto the Ancient Greek city of Pergamon built on a massive mountain that today requires a 2 hour hike or a gondola ride to reach. Luckily our guide bought us tickets for the gondola. Complete with an impressive hillside amphitheatre, the city centres around a 335m high acropolis. Germans began excavating the site in 1864 and have rebuilt the city to what it is today. Far in the distance, we could see the satellite city of Asklepeieon of Pergamon located 10 miles away which we had visited earlier in the day. The ancient city was a religious centre with temples, a hospital and of course a theatre.
That night we were driven out to ANZAC cove to begin our check in process for the dawn service. We arrived at 10pm and walked up to the cove as our bus and Turkish tour guide were not permitted entry. We were met with many Aussie and Kiwi volunteers who talked to the crowd as the security wait times grew but eventually we cleared security and made it to the cove at 1am. The group found a spot on the hill and we laid out our sleeping bags to try and get some sleep. There was a giant screen where documentaries were played during the night so sleep alluded some of us. At 3.45am we got a wake up call and told to prepare for the dawn service.
This was the reason we were in Turkey. This was the reason we were on this tour. The event that we were most excited about for this trip was finally here. The ceremony was one of the most moving experiences of our lives. There were many dignitaries from both countries as well as Turkey on hand to pay their respects to the fallen and read first hand accounts of a couple of ANZACs from their hand written letters sent to family members back home. With heavy hearts, the sun rose as The Last Post was played.
After the official ceremony finished, we hiked up towards Lone Pine cemetery stopping at multiple memorials and small cemeteries along the route. We made it to Lone Pine in time for the 11am Australian forces ceremony and then hiked a further 3.5km uphill to Chunuk Bair, the site of the New Zealand memorial and ceremony, the highest point of the range and the spot of land that was the target of the ANZACs during the 8 month campaign. There was a lookout along the way to see the spit of land where the ANZACs were meant to land which would have changed the course of the ANZAC legend. The hike was long and hard but absolutely nothing compared to what our boys went through
With very little sleep we all boarded the bus and made the 5.5 hour drive back to our starting point. Most of us don't remember it as we all passed out as soon the bus left. We all had an early night for the last early start of the tour. In the morning we took a cruise on the Bosphorus Straight before hitting up the Blue Mosque, Hippodrome area, Topkai Palace, Underground Cistern and the 6th century Hagia Sofia. It was a busy busy day but so glad we got to see the highlights of Istanbul. We finished our day at an incredible spice market. At 6pm we arrived back at our hotel and said our goodbyes to our group.
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