Conflict, Explosions and Angst over 5 Millennia

Monday was Turkey's Independence Day and I made plans to check out the festivities with Craig, an Australian traveller who is here with his ailing father. We sought advice from everyone on what was happening as well as where and when we could find the events. We didn't get two matching answers so were kind of on our own. We never did find anything of significance, other than a bunch of wreaths at the war memorial which indicated we had missed whatever services were held there. There were Turkish flags absolutely everywhere in the city, but apart from that, no other sign that this was a special day - certainly nothing like July 1 in Canada or January 26 in Australia.

I was a bit concerned about spending the day with Craig as he is, to be kind, a little rough around the edges. He grew up in the outback, left school at 14, worked in the mines all his life and is now retired at 34, having made a fortune on real estate in the mining towns. I couldn't imagine what we'd find to talk about, especially since we couldn't find anything to do with ourselves. We ended up sitting in an outdoor cafe having lunch and a couple of beers, during which he regaled me with stories from his errant childhood. I laughed myself into tears and absolutely had a blast with him. Later in the evening we wandered down to the waterfront and had just seated ourselves in his favourite outdoor restaurant and ordered our meal when the fireworks started up over the Bosphorus bridge. It was a fabulous show and much more exciting than a full moon over the Bosphorus. The restaurant we were at is underneath a bridge that supports hundreds of fishermen, so our view of the fireworks was through a curtain of fishing lines - a very unique experience for me.

On Tuesday I got up early and boarded a bus for Canakkale (pronounced Cha-na'-ka-lay). Upon arrival, we had lunch and then took a tour of several of the major sites on the Gallipoli peninsula. We had seen a great documentary about the battle at Gallipoli on the bus, which helped those of us non-Australians/New Zealanders to better understand it. The guide was superb and the sites very moving. The Turks have done a fabulous job preserving the peninsula, which is now a national park and protected from any development. It is amazing to see the places where this horrible battle took place over nine months and with such an incredible loss of life. There were 120,000 deaths on the battlefield, but the number of deaths due to wounds and illness brings the toll to 500,000. It's even more horrific in that it was all for naught. There are dozens of cemeteries and other monuments scattered over the area and the vibe is at once both very sad and beautifully peaceful.

The Anzacs made it to a spot called Lone Pine very early on in the battle and wanted to capture a hill called Chunuk Bair. You can practically throw a rock from one to the other, but for nine months they were unable to get there other than a two-day period when a New Zealand troop held it. The trenches are still in evidence all over the hill sides, in some cases the enemies were as close together as nine metres. In fact, they were so close that soldiers frequently tossed things to each other during the quiet times, exchanging food and newspapers for cigarettes. During times of battle, grenades were tossed back and forth as many as four times before blowing up.

The stories of tenderness, camaraderie and respect that came out of this war from both sides are truly remarkable as is the terrible devastation. The continued respect between Turkey and the Anzacs is very moving and the guide had us all in tears with his stories. He referred to it as the "last gentleman's war".

We spent the night in Canakkale and boarded a bus for Troy in the morning. Again we were blessed with an excellent guide who injected much humour and charm into her commentary. The excavated site is actually quite small and teams continue to work on the remaining area around the city. It's funny how they have little or no interest in anything Roman as there are already so many Roman ruins in Turkey they have become quite blase about them. They only get excited about the pre-Roman finds.

This was yet another mind-blowing day. They have found no less than nine cities built on top of each other at this site, and even evidence of small communities that go back further than Troy I. The Troy that Homer wrote about is assumed to be Troy VI or perhaps VII which are similar to each other. Troy I dates back to 2900 BC and Troy IX ends at 500 AD. There are places in the excavation where you can see all nine Troys stacked up on top of one another. I couldn't believe I was looking at 5000 year old walls - pretty amazing if you allow that to sink in. There's not a lot to see other than ruined walls, but that was enough for me - to actually walk through the "gates" into Troy VI was very cool. And yes, they have a huge wooden horse for the tourists to take pictures of, and no, Brad Pitt was not there. I did find the tour a bit quick and there were lots of plaques around the site that we didn't stop to read. When I go back to Canakkale with my other tour, I think I'll opt to go back out to Troy, skip the guided tour and just wander around the site. I don't feel the need for another trip to Gallipoli - it is a very sad place. I'm sure by the time I've finished this tour, several thousand year old ruins will seem like nothing to me, but right now I'm totally intrigued.

Interestingly, the 10-year war at Troy in the 13th century BC and the nine-month battle of Gallipoli in 1915 were both over ownership of the same waterway, the Dardanelles. This is one significant body of water.

We spent the rest of the day in Canakkale which doesn't have a whole lot to offer, except a lovely waterfront and the wooden horse that was used in the film "Troy". Still no Brad Pitt sightings. We headed back to Istanbul in the afternoon and arrived here late last night.

I got up early this morning and went get my Syrian visa. When I gave them all my documents, they refused to give me a visa because I was using a temporary passport. Needless to say, with three days until my tour, and all kinds of assurances that I would get this visa in a day, this sent me into a panic. I went out to call my fabulous contact at the Canadian consulate but had to learn how to use a phone in the interim. A policeman was good enough to direct me to a post office where a clerk sold me a phone card, directed me to the nearest payphone and sent along his elderly friend to help me make the call. It still amazes me that I can design a telephone network and virtually build a phone switch from the ground up, but when faced with making a phone call outside of North America I'm as helpless as a baby. I was finally able to connect with Zeyda who called the Syrian embassy and got me all sorted out. She saved my bacon once again. I am now concerned that this regal, white passport of mine that was making me feel so important will be the bane of my existence for the next four weeks or so. I am hoping I don't run into more problems with it when entering Jordan and Egypt - hopefully the presence of the Syrian visa it it will help.

I have done a lot of complaining about the Turkish men here, and there certainly are a lot of annoyances from the locals, but I really should comment on the hospitality of the Turks. I don't often let them get close enough to be hospitable, but they really helped me out today when I was in a tight spot. Similarly, the staff at my hostel and in the bar that I frequent are really wonderful. A guy even helped me across the street today and engaged me in pleasant conversation on the other side. (I really did need help crossing the street and was glad for his attention. The Turks are considered crazy drivers - and are a little reckless - but they can't touch what I've seen on the roads over the last year.) Of course I did end up in his family's carpet shop as a result of responding to him, but even that was a pleasant experience. They gave me a great education and let me escape carpet-free without any hassle. (I did see one that I loved but would have cost me $2800 to buy and ship home - a bit outside my budget at the moment.) Not many carpet salesmen would let you off so easily.

I have about three more days in Istanbul before my tour and only a few things that I really want to see, so hopefully I'll just chill out a bit and enjoy my space before I go back into group mode. I'll blog again before I leave but probably won't have much to report.