Turkey Part 3

Sorry for the delay all!! Public computer and can't hog it for long, but am going to do it this time :)

Friday, September 11, 2009

Today is Troy and Gallipoli. Troy I've been obsessed with for many years so needless to say I'm excited about visiting here. Our guide is Mustafa Askin and he made the story of Troy come alive for our group.

Yes, I did climb inside the Troyan horse and get the really cheesy pictures taken!

Troy isn't a site like Esphesus. It's layers of history on top of each other and was greatly destroyed by Heinrich Schliemann and his desire to find Homer's Troy. Still, walking through what's been uncovered is going back 4500 years. The walls are sloped at the bottom and then extended up many metres to help stabilize the walls during an earthquake. There are areas of the site where you can see Troy I, II, III, IV, V, VII, etc (all in one spot!!!) How incredible is that? Some of the higher points have a view of the plains and harbour. I'm surprised at how far back the harbour is but our guide said during Homer's Troy it would have been much closer to the city.

Troy was picked for its location to the Dardanelles. It's the only Way to get to the Black Sea from the Aegean Sea and there are something like 138 boats a day (now) that use that channel...so you can see why the Trojans wanted that city where it was.

Troy was a mixture of ruined walls, mud bricks, fortifications and by far exceeded all of my expectations!

Our next stop is Gallipoli. We go back to the tour agency, board a 30 to 40 minute ferry back to the European side of Turkey to Kilitbahir, have lunch (the best so far on any of the tours!) and head to our first stop for Gallipoli. We visit a museum first. I'm moved by the stories of the Turks helping the Anzacs and vise versa. There's even a picture of an Anzac giving water to an injured Turk. We visit Brighton Beach where the Anzacs were supposed to land and see how easy it would have been for the army to scale the hills there. We go to Anzac cove and visit the cemetery there and are told of the tale of an english man who was a donkey herder back home, found a donkey close to the beach (random) and for 24 (or 25) days would collect the bodies of the dead or injured and take them back to the cove. He was shot and killed and was only 22 or 23 years old.

We next visit Lone Pine (the Austrialian Memorial). Here we get our first opportunity to walk in the trenches. It's a dark place, quiet, remorseful and very desolate place to be. You can almost sense the voices on both sides. The trenches are only 8 metres apart.

We next go to the Turkish memorial and are told two stories. During a fight, once both sides were out of bullets they had to fight hand to hand, once the fighting was stopped a truce would be called so both sides could collect their dead and injured and return to the trenches. There was an injured English soldier crying out in pain but, if anyone from the Anazc side even dared to collect him they would be killed by the Turks. A white flag was raised by the Turks, an unarmed soldier took the injured Englishman back to the Anzac trenches. The other story is of two bodies found, one turk, one anzac, almost hugging each other but killed in battle. They were found during the excavation and construction of the Turkish monument and were given special burial and monuments in the turkish monument (almost like a place of honour).

There were many storeis like this. Another is of the nightly singing from both trenches. How the turks would sing a song, then Anzacs would respond with one, etc. AFter a day of fighting the Anzacs were saddened that they probably shot and injured or shot and killed the Turk that would start the nightly singing, they were sad they wouldn't hear his voice again.

The soilders also shared water, smokes, food, etc across the trenches.

We ended at the Chunuk Bair (New Zealand Memorial). This is one of the highest points of the fighting and the New Zealanders finally took this area in August. (after landing April 25).

After this is a busride back to Istanbul, about 6 hours and I'm back at the Megara!!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

I check into the Ilkay hotel and check out the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. Of course, while I was there it started thundering again!! I've only had one nice day so far in Turkey!

There are three buildings, the main one holds many sarcophagus, statutes and finds from various places in Turkey, and Hurrah! We can take pictures! On the upper level floors there are finds from Troy, Cypress, Syria, Persia, Palestine, etc. To really appreciate this you'll have to wait for the pictures!!

Another building (much smaller) holds ceramics dating back 600 to 800 years (12th century) to very late 19th century and from all over Turkey.

The third building held artifacts from Egypt (oh my god!! was I freaking out over that!), Armenia, Babaloyn, Hittites, etc. fun!

I came back for a nap and then out for dinner at a Kebab House not far from the hotel. I might go back there today for lunch!!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Today I went to see the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque.

The Aya Sofia was very cool! It's a church, turned into a mosque, turned into a museum. Nows that its a museum they are working on uncovering the mosaics on the ceilings and walls. I decided to go it alone and not hire a guide. I'd already had four guided tours and I wanted to just expirence the Aya Sofia. You pay $20TL and once inside you can see the restoration take place. The museum is huge! There's no way to descibe it. Its size is impressive. And its packed with crowds of people...crowds. Imagine being in a stone building that holds heat on a day with (more) thunder storms and no AC...yah, it was sweaty. Once you get over that though, its fine.

The ceiling or very close to the ceiling is where the mosaic of the virgin mary and her son are. The angels on either side are just starting to be uncovered. After I finish exploring the bottom floor (more like I'm driven away by the hordes of people) I wander the ramp to the second floor and discover the rest of the mosaics. These are all from the 12th century and are breath-taking. It's unbelievable how life like they are.

After I've had my fill (and after the storm) I head over to the Blue Mosque. We have to line up until the service is over and then go through a lik eup to make sure we're properly dressed for admittance. I have to admit. I wasn't blown away at all (especially after seeing a smaller one earlier in the week). I guess I was expecting more blue, more tiling, more brilliance. What I did see though was a working mosque. The mosque is set up for the men to pray in front of Mecca. Because so many tourists go through they've a barrier set up between the men praying and the tourists coming to investigate. In the back area are lattice walled off areas for the women to pray. The women aren't allowed to pray with the men because they are considered unclean.

Today after my nap I went back to the same Kebab place for dinner. Hey! I was craving the same dinner and the awesome cheese they serve with the bread. Yummy :)