Sitting in an internet cafe in Kuşadasi, we are soaked and pretty cold - sunny Turkey this is not at the moment! But thinking back to our experience at Gelibolu (Gallipoli), this is nothing compared to what those guys went through in 1915. It was a pretty sobering experience being there. It's an absolutely beautiful place and it's hard to believe that such a horrendous battle took place there for eight months. But we went to remember and the two ceremonies that we went to (main dawn service and the NZ service at Chunuk Bair) were really great. Amelia was stoked to see Judy Bailey in all her 'mother of the nation' glory, while Adrian was well impressed by Winnie's speeches (Amelia reckons he's got good staff at the moment...). You may have even caught us on TVOne news?? Amelia has had at least two pieces of fan mail so far...
The day started off rather disorganised in Istanbul, but we eventually arrived and squeezed into a pozzie on the grass and settled in for the night. Man was it cold! But the -7 degree sleeping bags did their job admirably and kept us toasty for those 10 second patches you could actually fall asleep. After the dawn service we motored up the hill to Chunuk Bair and got a great sleep on the lawn in the sun (although the wind made it bitterly cold still). After the NZ service and a lengthy wait for the bus we made our way to our hotel - absolute luxury after the previous night! We are most definitely spoiled compared to what they experienced 93 years ago.
The following day we headed to Kuşadasi via Pergammon (currently called Bergama) where we saw some ancient ruins. We also went to a Turkish carpet co-operative and saw how they weave them - it was really interesting but neither of us had a spare thousand dollars or room in our packs (much to the chagrin of the salesmen). That night was spent in the cheesiest Irish pub imaginable - line dancing, cocktails with sparklers in them, conga lines and obligatory dancing on the bar - as they actually do say here, 'very nice' (insert Borat voice here).
Today we went to a leather goods factory and the ruins at Ephesus. Ephesus was fantastic, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. They had the biggest Roman ampitheatre in the world, seating 24,000, and also the first ad in the world - for a prostitute no less! They've only uncovered 4% of it and it's already an impressive sight - they reckon it will take another 1000 years to do the rest!
Today we went to a leather goods factory and the ruins at Ephesus. Ephesus was fantastic, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. They had the biggest Roman ampitheatre in the world, seating 24,000, and also the first ad in the world - for a prostitute no less! They've only uncovered 4% of it and it's already an impressive sight - they reckon it will take another 1000 years to do the rest!
It's raining pretty heavily as I said, but we're pressing on to the Greek Islands anyway. Forecast is due to improve by Thursday so we'll see how we go - might not be camping until then at least!So 'güle güle' Turkey for the meantime, we'll see you again in about two weeks.
