When the person behind the desk at the airport asked me where I was going, I was really tickled to be able to say “Istanbul”. It had always seemed like such an exotic, mysterious place. Partially in Europe and partially in Asia, it was once Constantinople. Before that, it was Byzantium. It has Egyptian obelisks, a Roman hippodrome, very early Christian structures, and Ottoman mosques. It also has a royal palace with a completely intact harem. Then, there is the train station for the Orient Express. Someday I would love to take the trip from Istanbul to Venice.
The hotel was on the Asian side of the Bosphorus overlooking the Golden Horn and near the Galata Bridge. A deep, natural harbor, the Golden Horn has been the main military port of Istanbul back as far as the 7th century BC. I could see the Suleymaniye Mosque (Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent), on the other side of the Bosphorus, from my hotel room.
After taking a few photos from my hotel room window, I set out to explore the area (which was called Galata) around the hotel. It was a grey day, but the city itself was colorful.
That evening I met the Tour Director and my fellow travelers. We had 41 people on the tour. Only a couple of us were from the US. Most were from Canada, the UK and Australia.
We were returning to Istanbul later in the tour to explore the city in detail. So the next morning, we crossed the Galata Bridge to the European side, looked around a bit and then left Istanbul, driving along the Sea of Marmara on the European side of the Dardanelles. We were headed to Gallipoli.
During World War I, a large battle took place between the Ottoman Empire (supported by Germany and Austria-Hungary) and the British Empire (Australia, India, Newfoundland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), supported by France and Russia on the Gallipoli Peninsula. It was a major Ottoman victory and a horrible defeat for the British Empire and its Allies (302,000 casualties). It was an absolute massacre.
We started off at Anzac Cove, one of the main battlefields. Just above the cove is a rock formation called “the Sphinx”. Next was the Mehmetcik Memorial, which depicts a Turkish soldier carrying a British soldier. Then we visited the cemetery and the Lone Pine Memorial to the Australians who died at Gallipoli.
The main memorial included a statue of Ataturk (1st President of the Republic) and some of the battle trenches. A memorial to New Zealand was near the Ataturk Memorial. There is a pretty good film about it called “Gallipoli” released in 1981. I was quite moved by the film when I saw it several years before visiting Turkey.
When we were done exploring the battlegrounds, trenches, cemetery and memorials, we took a ferry from Kilye Bay on the European side of the Dardanelles to Canakkale on the Asia Minor side. Canakkale is the nearest major town to Troy. The Trojan Horse used in the 2004 film “Troy” greets those who arrive by ferry.
We spent the night at a resort hotel on the water. There were some huge rabbits hanging out on the property. Much larger than the bunnies I usually have on my property at home.
I had what I thought was a really interesting bathtub in my room. It was quite compact and you basically sat on a seat and used a hand-held shower. It worked well for a seated shower, but wouldn’t have worked at all for a bubble bath.
We spent the next day stepping way back in time while exploring Troy!
View of Suleymaniye Mosque from hotel room 
View of Golden Horn of Bosphorus from hotel room 
View of Asian side of Istanbul from hotel room 
A street in Galata district of Istanbul 
Anzac Cove with Sphinx rock formation 
Mehmetcik Memorial at Gallipoli 
Statue of Ataturk on left and battle trench at right 
Another battle trench 
Lone Pine Memorial 
Ferry across Dardanelles to Canakkale 
Trojan Horse from 2004 film at Canakkale 
View from hotel at Canakkale 
Compact tub with seat and hand-held shower in Canakkale hotel room