Istanbul to Canakkale and Izmir

Had a meet and greet catch up for the tour on Saturday night, then went out for dinner with a few Aussies who are also on the tour with me. We all get along great.

Got up early on Sunday and enjoyed more buffet breakfast, i could get used to this! We set off early to make it to Gallipoli to view the Lone Pine memorial and also some other noteworthy sites on the hill, but they had it closed for some reason and weren't opening up til 6pm! So we kept driving, took the ferry across the Dardanelles at the narrows to Canakkale and drove onto Troy. Man that place blew me away. I've never seen anything that old, i actually touched a sandstone wall that had been carved and laid out 3700 years ago! The columns are so perfectly carved and are still beautiful despite lying in ruins. The replica of the wooden horse wasn't my highlight but I did climb up inside it and looked over the impressive view to the water.

Had an enjoyable time in a supermarket, I worked out through cross referencing different items what the word for chicken is... Bt I forget already. Got myself a spinach gozleme from the store bakery!

So then we raced back to the war memorials, got there abiut 6pm, were then told that they had just done a bomb sweep and now thatbthe site was secure no one was allowed in. So obur guide Rashid cut sick and yelled at them in Turkish until they let us through, just for a few minutes and only to take a few photos from a distance. Finally got to our hotel around 9, ate an awesome hotel dinner and then got ready for the dawn service departure.

We left the hotel at midnight, arrived at 2am, and luckily found some seats together!! There were 12 of us from the tour doing the dawn service thing, the rest of them enjoyed their warm beds. I can say unequivocably that was the coldest I have ever been in my life, EVER. So fricken cold the fronts of my thighs actually started stinging. Sat next to old mate Ron, who happened to come over from England to check it out, he was a paratrooper and had flown helicopters for soldier deliver in previous combats, so he had set up a veteran group to get together for a reunion every 2 years. He was scouting out the Anzac celebrations at gallipoli and possible idea for 2014. He was a very cool guy, gave me lots of trivia about what was happening during the ceremony andlittle stories about military people he recognized throughout. Then he gave me a little badge, some wings to wear on my Aussie flag shirt today.
The sevice itself was such a special experience, the sun came up quite quickly over the ridge behind me and cast the bay in an eerie glow which matched the sombre and reflective mood of the place. I will never forget it. I am so glad I got to experience this once, it was very moving.

Today we went to Pergamon and saw the Asclepion, an ancient wellness spa and retreat, library and theatre, got some bloody excellent shots of the ruins. I upset 2 poor fellows who were trying to sell me jewelry outside. They actually thought I was going to buy and stared daggers at me when I said no thanks...

Now in Izmir, 3rd largest city in turkey and we've got a VERY flash hotel to stay in. Going to have a few drinks tonight I think, we'll try our luck down on the waterfront, overlooking Aegean sea :)

Still trying to work out what to do with pics, hope to post some soon

Woohoo! Loving it :)