I woke up to glorious sunshine that the weather was forecast to be. After breakfast, which we took our time on, we spent some time looking over the other buildings onto the Dardanelles at the ships that were passing through.  We didn’t get to leave the hotel until 1015hrs and went straight to the Trojan Horse for a photo shoot of Tuah and then on to the ferry terminal to enquire about the ferry to Eceabat.

We were just in time for the 1100hrs ferry but nearly didn’t make it because of lack of space until one of the lorries that was to be loaded was rejected because of its weight. Then there was enough room for two smaller vehicles, us and an army truck with machine gun totting customers. Alison was complaining earlier that they were squeezing in front of us and I was not about to complain after seeing the machine guns.

We got to Eceabat on the Gallipoli Peninsula, in less than half hour and drove to the Kabatepe museum. The museum was unfortunately closed and under renovation but there was enough information available for us to feel sad over the deaths of so many during the 9 months of the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915.

The campaign began with an attempt to force the Dardanelles by naval power alone but when 3 Allied battleships were lost to Turkish mines General Sir Ian Hamilton was appointed to command a 70,000 strong Mediterranean Expeditionary Force consisting of Brititsh, Indian, ANZAC and French troops. Its mission was to seize the Gallipoli peninsula and clear the way for the Royal Navy to capture the Turkish capitol of Constantinople (now Istanbul). The campaign degenerated to trench warfare due to the unexpectedly hostile terrain and ferocious Turkish defense resulting in the lost of lives of almost 36,000 Commonwealth, 10,000 French and around 86,000 Turks. By 9 January 1916 the Gallipoli peninsula was emptied of Allied forces.

We visited the Lone Pine, Johnson’s Jolly, Beach, Hill 60 cemeteries and the Turkish Memorial while driving through some rough terrain for short cuts. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to go further south to visit Helles point where the British and French troops landed. We managed to go to Kilitbahir to see the old castle there but again didn’t have time to go to the museum and see the Bunkers that guard the Dardanelles. As it was getting dark we managed to catch a ferry to cross to Canakkale from Kilitbahir just as it was leaving.

We could imagine how difficult the conditions were for the troops facing each other in trenches in some not more than 8 meters apart. Mustafa Kemal paying tribute to the Turkish soldiers said that death was a certainty for the men in the first row of trenches and yet the men in the 2nd row knowing this willingly took the place of those who fell with calmness which could be the envy of many others.

We ended the day with a meal at one of the Pade restaurants and Adrian having a good amount of rice which was a relief. He even had 2 slices of cake when we got back to the hotel and then asked me to put him to sleep.