Suvla Bay Turkey then Greece

Travelled: 237km (3.6km border crossing from Turkey to Greece 8.5 HOURS!)

Stay: in some car park on the beach west of Alexandroupoli...it’s dark so how knows! N40.8481 E25.7254

We had a peaceful sleep and after our morning coffee took off to explore Suvla Bay. If the condition of the roads are to go by, this area of the peninsula is not so popular. We managed to find the Hill 60 cemetery and then made an approach to Suvla Bay but turned off 5km short as the road was not good. 

On our travels back to the main road we did manage to see a bit of  rural Turkey. 

Then we were off to the Greek border...and oh were we in for a wait...the short story is that it took us 8 hours 20mins to travel 3.6km! 

We whiled away the time doing some photo downloads and Mark listened to the Bombers game, we did some planning on what to see in Greece..Mark read his book as we stopped and started our way through the Turkish Border and then the Greek Border. Never could we have imagined that we would have to endure such a thing...but we survived! And we enjoyed a celebratory drink with the music pumped up high as we travelled down the freeway to our destination for tonight.  We have parked in a huge car park with no one in it so not sure what to expect in the morning...only time will tell. 

Gallipoli Peninsula Turkey

Travelled:121km

Stay: Aceabat- Boomerang Bar car park on the shore of the Dardenelles Strait N40.1908 E26.3574

We set off straight after our morning coffee and parked at Anzac Cove. We had the place to ourselves as we walked along what is left of the beach reflecting on the lives lost here. 

We then went on the loop road and stopped at numerous cemeteries and memorials reading about the battles and losses at each spot. 

We found a Bloom from Melbourne ! Not from our family tree though.

We also went to the Turkish memorial.











View of Suvla Bay

After the New Zealand memorial where Mark remembers having his photo taken in 1976, we drove down to the end of the Peninsula to Cape Helles Memorial. This is to commemorate the British losses with a mention of the 249 Australians and few others from the Commonwealth.

 Whilst here we also had a look at the Turkish Fort. 

 

We then drove back on the Eastern side of the peninsula stopping to look at the fort at Kilitbahir.

Between here and Canakkale is the narrowest point of the Dardanelles. As the wind was quite insistent on this side of the peninsula we decided to spend the rest of the day at Kabatepe. After dinner we had a dip in the Aegean Sea as the sunset before heading back to the Boomerang Bar in Aceabate as there is no camping in the historic park. We had a beer with the very friendly owner before retiring back to Bluey.

Anzac Cove Gallipoli

Travelled:366km from Istanbul to Anzac Cove Turkey

Stay:Eceabat Boomerang Bar parking N40.1908 E26.3574

As we woke up early we decided we may as well have our coffee and leave before the manic started on the roads. It seemed like the right choice as we drove in relatively little traffic. We kept off the HGS toll roads and took the very good coastal road D100. For the next 2 hours we travelled through the suburbs of Istanbul...non stop appartements and shops.

 We eventually started to see fields and more resort towns before turning at Kesan to head South to the Gallipoli Peninsula.

 We got a glimpse of the Aegean Sea before the road took us along the shores of the Dardanelles Strait. 

This is what the Allies fought to obtain in WWI as it is a vital passage between the Black and Mediterranean Seas. We had a quick pit stop in the port town of Gelibolu and parked in front of the military buildings. 

We needed to sort out our Turkcell sim. The shop assistant kindly downloaded the app and now we won’t worry about the constant messages we get that we don’t understand...we managed to escape our possibly illegal parking and continue to Eceabat. We paused here to have some lunch and then decided to go and explore Anzac Cove. 

This is where Australian and New Zealand soldiers landed during WWI on the 25th April 1915 and fought for 8 months until they retreated.

 There were commonwealth cemeteries throughout the area and most were easily accessible from the road.

 We stopped to pay our respects and in the Beach Cemetery we even managed to find J.Simpson who is well known for saving lives with his donkey.

 Each cemetery has an information board explaining the battles that took place. 

We then went along the Memorial Road which loops around the ridge line battlefields and stopped at the Lone Pine Cemetery which is on a plateau at the top of Victoria Gully. There is also a memorial that commemorates those whose graves are not known. 

There was plenty more to see which we will do tomorrow.