Eceabat
Trip Start
Nov 01, 2006
1
128
168
Trip End
Oct 15, 2008
Eceabat, Canakkale, Turkey
Saturday, August 9, 2008
We found a place to camp in Eceabat a small town on the Gallipoli peninsular. It was behind a pub called the boomerang bar, and cost us absolutely nothing! The bar was a little derelict but was decked out like an old bush pub and had a heap of memorabilia about the place. The guy who owned and ran it was a really nice, if not eccentric, Turkish guy whose hospitality was fantastic. We were greeted by two free beers and the two nights we stayed here he gave us a meal for dinner, one night was a fresh caught fish!
We decided to do a tour of the war sites, mainly to get a better grasp of what happened and also so we didn't get lost trying to find our way about. It turned out that we were two of three people on the tour, so it was really good.
It was amazing turning up to ANZAC cove and seeing where the first ANZACS landed all those years ago. The terrain that they had to climb through to get any kind of usable ground was hash, and it is not surprising that a legend was formed here. We visited Lone pine, Chunuk Bair, Baby 700, the Nek and the Turkish memorial in this area, and all were special in there own ways.
Two pieces of trivial information stuck in my head from that day, the first being about the NZ troops. The Kiwi soldiers were meant to have had the discipline of the British troops but with attitude of the Aussie troops and were regarded to be the best soldier around, by everyone except the Aussies that is! The second bit was about the retreat of allied soldiers. They had to withdraw with out the Turks knowing it or face up to what they thought would be 30% losses. The troops rigged up different ways to make the Turks think they were still in the trenches and then left. The Turks had no idea and the next day when they had heard very little from the other trenches they sent out a scout, who found everyone gone! It was a really good day, and the only remains of the fighting that we could see were a few old trenches and the shape of a sunken boat in the water that the soldiers were brought in on.
We got back to the Boomerang bar for a few drinks, which turned into a few more and then a couple of Raki's and before we knew it Dave and I were the drunkest we have been on the entire trip. We talked to lots of different people, including a family from Britain who were relocating to Sth Africa and had decided to move there by driving overland! An oasis overland truck was also camping out back and a mixture of the people on the tour had come in for a drink. All in all a good night, and a farewell to Turkey.
After getting a knock on the van window and a nice breakfast made for us (you really can't complain!) we were ready to say good bye to Turkey. So with a headache and a quick stop for one last Kebap, we drove into Greece to start the final part of our European Road trip.
Miles so Far: 11453
