Istanbul: Day 1

Dad and I got up with the sun and took the 6:15am ferry to Istanbul.  We had been told it was a three hour ride and it was either this ferry or one that left at around 5:40pm.  The ferry reminded us of the Ferry at Disney.  Not in exterior appearance, but inside there were benches and it moved like the Disney Ferry.  We had a tea and tost (which is like a panani but only has cheese inside) and watched as the land passed us by.  We made two other stops on the way to pick up people and I slept the rest of the way.

We had seen Istanbul out of the window and weren’t sure where to get off, and we got off at the wrong stop.  We got off at Karakoy which is on the wrong side of the Golden Horn, a peninsula of water that runs through the city.  Luckily there was a ferry that could take us to Eminonu (where we were supposed to get off) and we made it there without a hitch. 

Dad and I were going to take the Pipedream all the way to Istanbul and when we looked out of the ferry window we were pleased with our decision to stay in Esenkoy and “commute” into the city.  The water was a hot mess of cargo ships, high speed ferries, fishing boats, and what I call traffic boats there to guide the big ships through the tight spots.  On the approach Dad counted 21 big ships waiting to enter the Bosphorus and there were ferries zooming all over.  We would’ve had to fight though the arsenal of ship traffic going against a 5 knot current in a channel that was about 2 miles wide… right.  And of course with our luck there would be a strong wind on our nose and we would’ve gone backwards… into a ferry.  The chop in the area was incredible.  We would’ve been rocking and rolling in every direction and probably would’ve been too scared to notice.  When you combine a 5 knot opposing current, high speed ferry wake, the wake from cargo ships, and wind the chop is extreme.  We made the right choice.

This was taken from the top of a hill in the city, but if you look at the water you can see the sea of cargo ships just hanging out outside of the city either waiting to be filled or waiting to enter the Bosphorus.

We found the tramway which is a light rail that runs through Istanbul.  It’s a great public transport system and made me appreciate public transportation even more.  For 1.75 TL you could get a token and ride it anywhere in the city.  The trains were new and well maintained.  The hostel directions told us which stop to get off on and then walk 40 meters.  With some turning in circles we found the Cordial House Hostel and were too early to check in.  So we decided to start the site seeing.

Dad stopped at the McDonalds right by the hostel for a sausage egg McMuffin, made with beef sausage, and we walked the 5 minutes to the Blue Mosque. 

This is the Blue Mosque.  The exterior was impressive because of the six minarets and many studded domes, but the interior is where the wow factor really takes place.  We saw a lot of women in burkas in Istanbul and thought they may have been tourists since the display of religious dress like this is outlawed in Turkey, but we saw two more on the ferry back to Esenkoy who were looking to purchase a summer home so maybe the rules are loosening?

This is where you walk in and go “Wow”.  There are over 21,000 blue-green Iznik tiles that are interspersed with 260 stained-glass windows.  Sultan Ahmet I commissioned the construction of the mosque beginning in 1609 and many believe he did so to outdo the splendor of Aya Sofya, located a park away.

Women are required to wear head scarves inside, which is understandable so I borrowed one that is provided.  I still don’t know how to actually wear a head scarf, but I think this was sufficient.  The sign said long skirts are also required, but long pants were acceptable too.  No shorts, short shirts, or tank tops would’ve been permitted inside of the mosque.

We were also required to take off our shoes when entering the mosque.  This is the rule of every mosque and we’ve noticed that men generally wash their feet before entering too.  There are gazeboswith running water, bars of soap, and little stools where a man can wash his feet before entering.

There were so many tourists visiting.  There were a few people there to actually pray, and apparently the Blue Mosque is closed to tourists on Friday afternoons because so many people come to actually pray there.  I think it would be like attending a normal mass at St. Peter’s Cathedral.  The architect, Mehmet Aga wanted it to be so grand that he built the 6 minarets which is the same number as the Elharam Mosque in Mecca so he had to go to the Holy City and built a 7^th minaret for the Elharam Mosque so it maintained dominance.

After our visit to the Blue Mosque we returned to the hostel and checked in.  The room wasn’t much and we shared a bathroom, but that isn’t any different than sharing the bathroom at a marina so we didn’t care.  We decided to take an early afternoon nap and then continue site seeing once we were rested.  It was fantastic.

The next stop was Aya Sofya, which was my favorite place in Istanbul.  It was a 5 minute walk from the hotel and while there were a lot of people there, it was so big we almost didn’t notice.

This is Aya Sofya.  The building was originally built by the Byzantine empire in 537 and was one of the world’s largest and most important religious monuments until the construction of St. Peter’s in Rome in the 17^th century.  In 1453 Mehmet the Conqueror came in and turned the building into a mosque.  Building four minarets around it.

The crown jewel of the building is the giant dome located in the center.  Emperor Justinian wanted the church to be the grandest ever constructed so the craftsmen came up with the dome.  Nothing like the dome had ever been attempted before and the rules made up were not foolproof which was made clear when the dome collapsed two years after completion during an earthquake.  They tried again and discovered the flying buttresses which made it the long lasting symbol of Istanbul’s skyline it is today.  This is a photo from the second level looking out over everything.

This is Dad and I posing inside.  Again because of the sheer size of the building it seemed like there weren’t that many people inside, but once you walked outside and saw the crowds it was amazing. 

We got to see more Iznik tiles in Aya Sofya.  This was a passage to the main area of the church/mosque.  It was where the sermon would’ve been held or later where the prayer would be led. 

This is where Christian and Islam meet.   The stair looking structure is the minbar which is a pulpit where the leader of prayer delivers sermons.  Every mosque has this and a mihrab which is a decorated niche that indicates the direction of Mecca.  The Arabic circles were clearly added when converted to a mosque, but if you look closely at the upper right of the photo you will see a mosaic of the Virgin Mary and Jesus.  This would’ve been where the Byzantine altar would’ve been also. 

Most of the mosaics were “preserved” on accident when in the 16^th century Suleyman the Magnificant ordered them to be plastered over in accordance with the Islamic proscription against the portrayal of the human figure in a place of worship.  They were uncovered in 1936 when Ataturk made the Aya Sofya into a museum.

The circles shown are where the Byzantine Emperors were coronated which Dad thought was pretty cool. 

After Aya Sofya we went to the Grand Bazaar which was right up the street from our hotel and wandered the streets looking at everything from magic carpets to lamps that you could purchase with or without a Genie.  The whole point of the bazaar is to barter for a good price and never settle for more than half of what the asking price is.  We didn’t purchase anything this time but will be back with Mom in June ready to haggle.

Dinner was a chicken durum (like a chicken wrap) and then Dad went back to the hotel.  I went on a hunt for a beer.  We thought being in the big city that Efes would be sold at the grocery store like everywhere else, and we were wrong.  I wanted to go for a walk and this gave me a small mission which I accomplished by turning left at the Burger King and walking towards the water.  There was a tiny liquor store that did indeed sell beer. 

We had an early night after a long day and wanted to be rested for day two of our adventure through Istanbul.

Bryan's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYAN!!

You say it's your birthday

It's my birthday too, yeah

They say it's your birthday

We're gonna have a good time

I'm glad it's your birthday

Happy birthday to you.

Yes we're going to a party party

Yes we're going to a party party

Yes we're going to a party party

I would like you to dance (Birthday)

Take a cha-cha-cha-chance (Birthday)

I would like you to dance (Birthday)

Dance

I would like you to dance (Birthday)

Take a cha-cha-cha-chance (Birthday)

I would like you to dance (Birthday)

Dance

You say it's your birthday

Well it's my birthday too, yeah

You say it's your birthday

We're gonna have a good time

I'm glad it's your birthday

Happy birthday to you.

- The Beatles

Happy Birthday from Esenkoy, Turkey!!

Today is my boyfriend's birthday and I have "hidden" 29 photos on the internet I have taken on my travels wishing him a Happy Birthday!  

Domestic Engineering 101

The first day spent in Esenkoy was spent doing things we take for granted at home.

I got to shower for the first time in 5 days the night before since we filled up with water which was much appreciated.  One of our tanks was almost completely empty while the other one was under half way full so we were on water conservation mode.  We need the fresh water to drink, brush teeth, do dishes, cook, and most importantly flush the toilet.  It is possible to set the toilet up to flush with sea water, and that’s how they did it during the crossing, but everything living in the sea water takes up residence in the toilet and well it starts to smell worse than before. 

I woke up and tried to renew our Turkcell dongle online before the internet died at the end of the day on the 15^th but was unable to figure out the website.  It was asking for a password… I finally figured out how to set a password and then the security certificate wasn’t working and I got stuck.  I had Google’s translation site open and was allowing everything to translate as I went along, but I still got nowhere.  So after a very frustrating morning we went back to the restaurant we had eaten at the night before and had a great lunch. 

I decided to go for a walk to see if I could find a Laundromat or Turkcell place and walked for about 2 miles before deciding I wasn’t going to find anything and walked back to the boat.  It was a really great walk along the water front though and I got to see the residential area and two mosques.

When I got back to the boat it was time to tackle the laundry.  We hadn’t been able to do laundry in 3 weeks so pretty much everything I had on board needed to be washed (and that isn’t an exaggeration).  Hand washing clothes is not an easy task and Dad and the guys crossing had worked out a system using detergent, the mop, and the garbage can… so I washed all of my clothes in a garbage can… with a mop.

Isn’t laundry fun?  A cap full of detergent, about 6 pots of hot water, and a small pile of clothes: insert mop and churn like butter.  We were lucky enough to have a hose that we could use to rinse the clothes out, but it seems to take forever to get all of the soap out so clothes tend to smell great but are a little crunchy to the touch.

Everything was ringed out the best I could get it, but it still seemed full of water when I hung it out to dry.  There was so much laundry we used every bit of lifeline space and I was washing up until around 5:00pm.  The sun is only up until 8:00pm so this will be a two day drying process.  I could’ve left the clothes up overnight, but there is a population of cats in the area who already sprayed our boat once and I didn’t want all of my hard work to end up smelling like cat.

My day was spent washing clothes while Dad spent his morning cleaning the interior of the boat, fixing the engine mount, and desalting the deck.  The deck was so salty that when the sun hit it just right it looked like a Twilight vampire.  He was then assigned the task of provision shopping.  We managed to not only almost run out of water, but food too.  We would’ve never gone hungry because there are so many cans of SPAM and tuna on board, not to forget pasta and what’s left of a 10lb bag of rice.  We had a single lemon, a single potato, a single onion, a small baggie of raisins, and a loaf of very stale bread.  (There were no weevils in the bread yet, but I’m sure it was only a matter of time)  Plus I was out of Coke Zero.  Three trips to the grocery store and butcher later and we were fully stocked with some to spare. 

For anyone who thinks I am on a great vacation, you are partially right.  I don’t have to work in an office and my sleep schedule is a little bit more relaxed.  I am getting to see the wonders of the world and have all sorts of cultural experiences.  But on days like today I am reminded at how much work really goes into it.  The repetition when we are on the water of bringing the fenders and lines in, getting the main sail up and any other sails we want to use, adjusting those throughout the day, taking them down, putting the fenders and lines back out and then docking which includes getting the gangplank out and plugging all of the electronics in… and then doing it again the next day.  It’s like camping but we happen to have a toilet, beds, and are floating.  Again the simple things like laundry, food, and showers are things we no longer take for granted and when it all comes together in one day it makes a very happy crew.

We are going to take a bus in Yalova to hopefully get the internet taken care of and to check out the town and marina.  We will decide within the next couple of days if we want to actually take the boat into the Istanbul area or just stay here.  There is a ferry that runs to Istanbul and a bus that runs to Yalova.  The Black Sea is pretty much out because of how the weather has been beating us up and because of the cost of fuel.  It’s roughly $10 a gallon here to fill up and we use a lot of fuel.  As always I will try and keep you posted.

This is Esenkoy, the town we are staying in right now.  The sun sets are beautiful, the people are friendly, and the town itself is comfortable.  Plus there is a cow up the street from the marina.  My vote is to stay here until my Mom comes and we start heading out of the Sea of Marmara, but there are a lot of factors that contribute so we are still weighing the pros and cons.

Lock 'Em Up

Our wishes were answered again and it warmed up.  With the warmth though came a serious lack of wind and the days spent on the water were pretty uneventful.

We anchored at a place called Cakikoy which showed the possibility of a quay in the book, but when we got there realized the fishing boats of the Sea of Marmara had claimed the quay and were in 5 deep at least, meaning there was one guy tied up to the dock and 4 guys tied up to him.  How anyone would get out is beyond me.  So we decided to anchor in the harbor which wasn’t a problem until around midnight when a row boat full of teenage boys was circling our boat and the other two boats anchored out.  They considered themselves the welcome committee, but were just annoying.  Dad and I were at the end of The Departed, which neither one of us had seen, and it sounded like someone had boarded our boat.  Dad went up and ended up sitting on deck for about 20 minutes while they circled yelling out “Hello” and then speaking in rapid Turkish.  The next day we found cigarette butts on our deck and neither one of us slept well that night.  For the first bad experience with the Turkish people though this wasn’t too bad.

This is the French sailboat that has been stopping at the same spots we have.  He anchored out at Cakikoy also and is headed towards Yalova, which is a port outside of Istanbul.

We had a big bay to cross with nothing between here and there so we got up early and started trucking.  We motored the entire way and at one point had between 0 and 0.7 knots of wind as the average.  The sun came out and it got pretty warm.  Half way there and we got a call on the VHF radio which has rarely happened.  I called Dad up on deck and it was the Coast Guard saying we had to move farther away from the penal colony we were passing.  Imrali Adasi is an island in the Sea of Marmara and is a penal colony.  Our book said we had to be 3 meters off shore when passing the island and we were, but when the Coast Guard called they said it was now 4 meters so they gave us a course and we followed.

This is the penal colony we were told to stay away from.  We weren’t sure if there was an actual prison on the island or if they just dumped people there with a shovel and bag of seeds and said “See ya”.  It was a hazy day which made it a little bit eerie.

We went through a shipping lane at some point and there was an empty ship that looked like it was on a collision course with us.  When Dad checked AIS is was going 0.4 knots and when we looked at it with the binoculars there was no anchor chain out.  It was either stalling or nap time on board.

I have learned how to tell an empty ship from a full one.  The ship sits way out of the water and the water line is visible when empty, as shown.  This is a big ship and not something you want to get in the way of.

We had two choices for places to stay and we choose to check out the first one since we were bored, hungry and tired of traveling.  Katrili is the harbor name and is described as a small fishing harbor where a yacht can pull in alongside (side to like in the states) on one of the walls of the breakwater or can back in with an anchor.  We were shooting to come in alongside since it’s easier and crossed our fingers it wasn’t full.  After staring at the breakwater for 30 minutes we found the break water, took the sails down and came on in.  There was a harbor master here to help and show us where to go, a handful of fisherman to catch lines, and men, women, and children walking along the promenade.  We docked without any trouble at all and the harbor master introduced himself in good English, showed us where the power box was, and brought us a hose to use to fill up our tanks and for anything else we would need water for.  We were in the process of filling up our water tanks, which had dried out drastically, when the harbor master came walking up with two glasses of Turkish tea and cookies to welcome us to Esenkoy (the actual town we are in).  We were shocked and pleased.

Dad had to rig an electrical cord that would work in the two prong outlet on shore, but it was the only power outlet on the entire quay so we aren’t complaining and like I said there is water right here too which is wonderful.  We went to check in and find out how much it would cost to have such luxury and 35TL later we went in search for dinner.  There are only a few restaurants open in town so we chose one that had people in it and is apparently run by a family called Cumhur.  We both got the Turkish Kebap which is ground lamb and beef grilled on a stick.  It was delicious.

The town is bustling with family activity and is a very comfortable place on our first impression.  There is no laundry services or Turkcell offices that offer internet dongle resources, but other than that it’s great.  

Dinner on the Anna M

The trip from Kemer to Karabiga was yet another day of rough seas and lots of wind.  I am going to quote my Dad again because he sums it up in a nutshell:

Trying to stay warm over here.  When most people think of going sailing they are wondering what SPF to bring not which set of long johns to put on!

We made a short 20 mile jump from Kemer to Karabiga in about 8 hours.  I thought we had made it through the opposing current but managed to find another stretch of about 2 kts.  25 kt wind, on the nose 3-4 ft chop 50 degrees, all making for a very long day.

It was a long day.  I took a Dramamine to avoid being sick, but one of the major side effects is it knocks you out.  I was sitting on deck trying to stay warm in my long underwear, sweater, and jacket and my eyes kept closing.  I told Dad I couldn’t keep them open and needed to close them for a minute and I ended up passing out in a sitting up fetal position.  I was curled up trying to stay warm and my head tucked in and I was out.  When I woke up everything was stiff and hard to stretch out, but I felt 10x better.

We got to Karabiga and was trying to figure out where a yacht was supposed to go.  This is a major shipping port. The book says they load coal and marble into dry cargo carriers and that a yacht should be able to anchor in the breakwater or pull up to the wall.  Now when we pulled into the harbor area there were two big cargo ships being loaded and a car/truck ferry sitting there.  There was NO way we would be able to dock or anchor anywhere near those ships and come out unharmed.  We went to the other side where the fishing boats were docked and were going to anchor in the harbor within the breakwater.  A man on the dock started to whistle at us and told us it got shallow really quick and sure enough out depth sounder began to beep at us.  He motioned to a space on the cement dock behind a line of big fishing boats and Dad and I gritted our teeth and prepared to back in. 

Part of the crew from a big ship on the other side of the dock came out to help us dock and get everything set.  We were trying to figure out how we were going to get onto the dock since the cement dock was meant for much bigger ships than ours it is about a foot up from the top of our back railing.  We ended up rigging the wooden board we have as a backup gang plank and one of the crew members helped us do this.  We asked him where a good restaurant was and he left for a minute and came back saying if we wanted to go to an authentic Turkish restaurant his captain would like for us to dine on board with them.  We were a little hesitant since there are 9 men on board and we weren’t sure if there would be an escape route, but said why not and accepted the invitation.

This was dinner.  In a fishing town it doesn’t get much fresher than this.  The captain bought the fish off of a boat and this is how they prepare the fish in Turkey.  They literally take the fish and chop it into pieces, bones and skin and anything else in or on the fish and then cook it.

They had a small grill on the dock that the fish was being cooked on with onions.  The man putting the fish on apparently worked at a pizza place in Tampa in 1999?  That’s what I think he said at least and is the ship cook.  The man with the white hair with his face towards the camera was who invited us to dinner and the man with his back to us is the ship captain.

We ate in the officer’s dining room, but it didn’t look any different than the other dining room.  I was surprised at how nice everything was in the ship.  There was a TV where we were eating and curtains on the windows.  Dinner was the fish, which we ate with our hands to pick out the bones before actually eating it, a salad of cabbage and onions, and garlic soup which is eaten before the meal.  There was fresh bread and they even brought out a bottle of water for us.  Then we were shown into one of the sitting rooms where Turkish tea was served and we all talked about retirement and what the government does.  The man who invited us on board, seen behind me, it turns out is only 52… Dad and I thought late 60s – 70s for sure. 

We were given the grand tour and got to go up to the bridge of the boat.  It had a lot of the same things we have on our boat, radar, AIS, compass.  There was a room with a bed right by it though which makes you wonder whether or not the person on watch is watching the water or inside of his eyelids.

This is the Anna M.  It’s on the smaller size as far as dry cargo cruisers go, but it still make the Pipedream look like a dingy.  I really enjoyed getting to go onto the ship and see what it looked like inside.  The company was very nice and the dinner was good.

After we got off the ship, we ran into the French sailor who we had seen in Canakkale and Kemer.  He was anchored outside of the harbor and we asked if he wanted to get a glass of wine in town.  It turned out there were no bars or even open restaurants in town that served alcohol so we invited him on board and had a bottle in the cockpit. 

His name is Gigier, we are still having some trouble pronouncing it, and he is working his way up to Istanbul also.  He has lived on his 32ft sailboat for 13 years now and is still employed.  He works on an accommodations barge for oil workers off of the Congo in western Africa.  He is at sea as an electrician for 5 weeks and then gets 5 weeks off which he spends sailing from port to port.  Not a bad life.  He’s sailing alone and Dad is familiar with how hard it is to meet people when you are alone on the boat.  He made a comment about how I am his ticket into things like dinner on a cargo cruiser.

We aren’t plugged into power at all so running the heat isn’t an option.  It got super cold at night and the next day. Dad and I went to a local cay (tea) house and there was a great stove in the center of the building that made it cozy and pleasant.  We watched fisherman make their nets and enjoyed our hot tea.  We asked the guy running it where to get lunch and he pointed across the one road in town to a Ma and Pop restaurant that was filling up fast.

I know it’s sort of hard to see Dad but I like this photo because you can see where they are loading and unloading the cargo ships in the background. 

The lunch was delicious.  You got a tray and got whatever was made that day.  We happened to get Turkish meatballs, fried potatoes, a chicken and vegetable in red soup, white rice, and a piece of dessert which was like shredded wheat in honey and made into a dessert bar.  All of this plus a Pepsi cost us 13TL for 2. 

After lunch we went back to the boat and I was determined to make peanut butter cookies.  So I started making those and Gigier came back with fuel jugs. There is no fuel dock and Dad went asking about a truck and they didn’t have one.  Gigier had two containers to move about 25 liters of fuel and he said Dad could borrow them if he wanted.  So Dad spent the rest of the afternoon making the half mile walk to the gas station and back.  He went about 5 times and was able to make a little bit of a dent in our tanks.  I assisted by holding up a paper town to catch any of the drips that tried going into the water.  There are huge fines here for getting diesel in the water.  I don’t think they care so much in this port, but we wanted to be safe and not sorry.

I made lemon chicken for dinner and officially shucked fresh peas for the first time in my life.  We invited Gigier over for dinner and had a great time.  Two and a half cheap bottles of wine later we had a dinner party going and made a new friend. 

We ended up spending a second full day in Karabiga because of the wind which was a good idea.  It was spent catching up on blogs, returning for a home cooked meal at lunch, and Dad fixed the gang plank which split a little about two weeks ago.  We were adventurous here and I would say even though the city doesn’t have a whole lot to offer, it was will be a lasting memory that will stand above the rest.

The Dardanelles: Take 2

We were looking at a good day to get up the remaining 15-20 miles of the Dardanelles and took advantage of that.  Now when I say a good day I mean there is no wind, not that there is favorable wind.  There is a big difference in this situation. 

It would’ve been terrific to have a southerly wind blowing us up the straights, but according to a plaque displayed by the horse and Troy exhibit by the marina in Canakkale, there were 14 days of southerly winds between May and September when the Greeks were trying to get there to attack.  That meant that they literally couldn’t move with the exception of the 14 days during a 4 month period.  Either that or they had to row… up a 4 knot current… with wind on their nose… I am very grateful for our engine.

We motored the entire way up the remaining 15-20 miles watching ships pass us and enjoying the ability to go 3-4 knots. 

This is me with a ship the size of a bus passing behind me.  Dad said it was probably a car mover.  Each car gets a room or cubicle and is then moved from point A to point B.  This may have been the biggest ship we saw.  We did see a ship that had cargo that rivaled this size though.  It was one of the flat cargo ships that had semi truck containers stack on top.  They were stacked 5 high and 18 long, and that was just what we could see on deck.

This is a closer view of the Morning Catherine.  The Dardanelles has 50,000 ships pass through in a year.  It is the water way that connects the Mediterranean to the Black Sea and is very important for the import export business.

It was a pleasant trip until we reached the Sea of Marmara when things began to get choppy.  Without fail we received our daily 25 knots of wind on the nose and the chop to accompany it.  We had a few anchorages in mind, but decided to go for the closest called Kemer since it looked like a 10 hour day to that point as opposed to 12 or 13.  My boyfriend Bryan asked if we were just going in circles and I crossed my fingers that we wouldn’t pull in and see the Navigator.  When we pulled in we didn’t see much of anything.  The French boat we had seen in Canakkale was anchored in the prime spot and we decided to get as close to him as we could without imposing or be in harm’s way.

We later discovered that this was also a prime fishing spot. The entire night was spent hearing the local fisherman motoring around the boat and Dad watched one of them drop a net uncomfortably close to the French boat’s anchor.  We were exposed to the end effects of the chop in the sea and it was a bumpy night, but the anchor was holding so it didn’t really matter.

Somber History Lesson

The Gallipoli Peninsula lies to the north of the Dardanelles.  There was a major campaign in the First World War was fought there and today is known as the place where 50,000 Allies and almost twice as many Turks were killed for control of the shipping traffic of the Dardanelles.  It is also where Mustafa Kemal Ataturk rose to power and became a house hold name in Turkey.

We took the ferry across the Dardanelles to meet our tour guide. Outside of the Crowded House Hotel (which is an Australian hostel type of hotel where we were told to meet) was a fish shop and this cat seemed to know exactly where to go.

This was our tour guide at the first stop.  He has been giving Gallipoli tours for 15 years now and was very into sharing everything there was to share about the campaign.  The tour cost, 55TL per person, included and English speaking guide, ferry transportation to and from Canakkale/Gallipoli, bus transportation to all of the memorials and battlegrounds, and lunch. 

We stopped at a small museum to begin the tour and learned that the Allied forces were trying to gain control of the Dardanelles.  Winston Churchill was in charge of the plan and they highly underestimated the Turks.  The British and French troops began to enter the Dardanelles with their ships and were unsuccessful because the Turks had laid underwater mines like this one along the entrance of the straights.  After those blew up and sunk a few ships and the current and land fighting sent them back, the Allies decided to call for reinforcements.

A WWI shank!  It was actually a bayonet.  This fight was one of the bloodiest and worst hand to hand combat fights of WWI.

This is Anzac Cove.  So when the British realized they needed more help, they called in the assistance of the Australians and New Zealanders.  Now when we looked at a map, Dad and I could not figure out the geographical logic of enlisting the Anzac’s for this particular mission, but it was done.  They were supposed to land on Brighten Beach which was a flat coastal area, but because they were coming in at night and had navigational errors they landed here instead.  Looking at a nice rocky cliff face that they had to climb up and over to get to the top ridge.

This is on the mountain side of Canakkale.  May 18, 1915 is the day the Turks commemorate the war.  There was 9 months of trench warfare but only 2 main fighting dates that stand out in history, May 18^th for the Turks and April 25^th for the Anzacs.  On the 25^th the Anzacs made it to Chunk Bair (the objective highest point on the peninsula) and on May 18^th Ataturk claimed the point back.

This statue of a Turkish soldier carrying and Anzac was a nicer story that we heard that day.  The Anzac soldier was wounded and on the Turkish side of the line pleading for help, the Turkish soldier left his trench to pick up the wounded soldier and place him back on his side of the line so his people could help him get better.  The Turks were fighting for their land, but in such terrible conditions, they were both essentially fighting for someone else and had moments of humanity.

This is the Australian Memorial at Lone Pine Cemetery.  It bears the names of the Australian and New Zealand soldier with unknown graves killed during the war.  This was as far as the Anzacs got the entire war.  The single pine tree comes from the single tree left on the battlefield after the others were all cut down for fire wood.  The tree shown is actually a great great grandtree of the original tree that was standing during the battle.

This is the one American who fought during the campaign.  He had moved to Australia and was killed at age 21 during the May 15^th battle.  The youngest soldier was only 14 and had lied about his age to “Travel to exotic lands and see Europe” like the government was advertising.

There are over 50 Turkish mini-memorials scattered around the battle fields and this is on erected at Anzac Cove.  It reads, “Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives!  You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country, therefore rest in peace.  There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us, where they lie side by side here in this country of ours.  You, the mothers who sent their sons from far-away countries, wipe away your tears.  Your sons are now lying in our bosom, and are at peace.  After having lost their lives on this land, they have become out sons as well.” – Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

This is the Turkish Memorial on Chunk Bair.  This is what the Allies wanted to occupy, but never got the chance.  Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) became a hero when he told his men, “I order you not to just fight, but to die” which is exactly what they did.  The line managed to hold and the Turks won, with over 200,000 of their men killed, wounded, or missing. 

I wore my Ataturk t-shirt since once we are out of Turkey, I won’t have many places to wear it.  This is still part of the Chunk Bair memorial, but it took a bus to get there.  Behind me is Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) who told everyone else to die and would have except when he got shot the bullet hit the pocket watch over his heart.  Dad was noticing how the highest ranking casualty listed on the Turkish side was major and then stopped. 

This is a view of the peninsula from the ferry across.  You can see another of our friends, the big ship, and a memorial on the side of the mountain.  It apparently translates to, “Stop, O passerby. This earth you tread unawares is where an age was lost.  Bow and listen, for this quiet place is where the heart of a nation throbs.”

It was a very educational and somber day of touring for us.  We learned a lot about the campaign and the guide was very thorough so it felt like we were there. 

A fun side note was that on the tour was a professional basket ball player who normally plays on one of the Turkish teams.  He is from either Australia or America (we couldn’t tell) and was about 6ft 11in maybe?  Huge guy who was injured and I guess touring with his girlfriend. 

We had Burger Turk for lunch before the tour (uncertain of what we would be served and I was happy I had the chicken sandwich when our juice box and goat cheese sandwich came out) and for dinner we found London Kebap which served the BEST chicken doner I have had yet.  The chicken was seasoned just right and there was a lot of it in the wrap.  It was delicious.

"Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."

We had heard mixed reviews about Troy.  Fodor’s says what a person will get out it depends on his or her imagination.  I think in this case a lot also had to do with a person’s knowledge of Homer and the story he told about Troy. 

This is the horse from the movie Troy.  We have heard rumors that Brad Pitt actually donated the horse to the city of Canakkale, but have no proof of that.  There was a sign that did conform that it was the horse from the movie though.

Dad had read both the Iliad and the Odessy and this was one of the highlights of his trip.  I haven’t read either, but I still really enjoyed the site and thought it had a lot more to offer than people were giving it credit for.  We had heard it was literally a pile of rocks and to the average eyes it sort of is, but to professional ruins sniffers like Dad and myself, and with the assistance of well labeled and explained plaques that lines the tourist path, we got a lot out of it.

I did research online the night before to see where the bus stop in Canakkale was that would take us to Troy.  The directions said to go two traffic circles, take a right, and the bus station is located under the bridge.  I didn’t realize how literal these directions were. This is the bus station and as you can see it’s under a bridge.

We got the schedule mixed up and thought we had an hour to kill before the next bus so Dad and I wandered around the bridge area and were happy to discover the Friday market.

This market was twice the size of the Kemer market we had been so impressed with.  Aisles and aisles of produce, olives and olive oil, dough and pasta, clothes, and anything else you could put on a table and sell.  The produce here was displayed in bulk and in some cases sold in bulk.  We asked a lady how late the market ran and she said as late as 8:00pm so we decided to stock up on our way back from the daily trip.

This was also the clothes market.  In Kemer it was two separate days, but here it’s a one stop shop.  Dad took this photo of a clothing vender standing on a crate to see over his stand.  There were clothes on display from ceiling to table and woman pushing their way from table to table trying to get the best deal.  It reminded me of Christmas shopping at the mall.

This is the horse at the actual site of Troy!  If you look really close you can see Dad smiling at the top.  There were stairs so you could climb up to the top and invade the city.  The Iliad was written 500 years after the actual war that took place between the Trojans and the Greeks so it’s hard to tell how much was fact and how much was fiction. 

Dad didn’t have the Iliad on board, but he did have the Odyssey.  The Iliad was the war story that introduced Odysseus.  To sum up the story Helen was captured and King Menelaus, her husband, wanted her back.  A thousand ships were launched to get her back and 10 years later and with the help of a few gods, they were still fighting.  Odysseus ordered a huge wooden horse to be built and they left it at the gate of the city with men inside.  The Greeks pretended to sail away and the Trojans took the horse in as a gift.  They partied and fell asleep and the Greeks that were hidden inside the horse let themselves out, opened the city gates, and let the army in to take control of the city.  Easy as pie.

The 5000 year old city has many layers, like an onion… or Shrek.  This diagram and photo show that there were at least 4 layers to Troy and possibly up to 38 total layers of settlements in this spot.  Heinrich Schliemann poured his wealth into the excavations and is considered the person who “discovered” Troy and the other civilizations on top or underneath it.

It was very windy on top of the hill.  There was a point where we could look out at very fertile farm land and actually see the Mediterranean Sea.  Everything was very green and we got to see more cows.

This is the ceiling of a Temple of Athena.  If you look closely you will see a head of broccoli.  Dad and I were so excited to find broccoli at the market, we didn’t want to wait to purchase it and bought it before our trip to Troy.  I thought since I was carrying it around the entire day, I would at least get a photo taken with it.  So broccoli, Mow, and myself posed with the ceiling from a famous pagan temple.  (The major vegetable sold in Turkey, at least during this time of year, is the green pepper.  It’s served at every meal and there are mountains of it at the market.)

This is a sanctuary.  As you can see there is still a lot of excavating and restoration that needs to be done.  There are so many places that need help, and not enough patrons to pay for it.  We were able to use our imagination to piece the places together, but for someone who hasn’t been to as many ancient sites as us, this may see unimpressive.

I wanted a photo of Dad and I in front of the horse, so we got one.  There was a very small museum there which was sponsored but the University of Colorado or something like that and didn’t have a whole lot to show.  It reminded me of the rec room in Wisconsin and smelled like cat spray.

We made it back with more than enough time to shop at the market and walked back to the boat hauling bags of fresh produce.  This was a highlight of Dad’s trip and I really enjoyed it too.

The Dardanelles: Take 1

I think the best way to describe our initial trip into the Dardanelles is through an e-mail blog my Dad wrote.  It’s a little technical, but I will add comments as it goes.

It took us about 9 hours to go 22 miles today.(We thought it would only take us around 4-5 so we left early hoping to be tied up by around noon at the latest.  It was 3:00pm before we even saw the port)  Left Bozcaada at day brake and had a pretty uneventful trip up to the entrance of the Dardanelles other than lots of big ships all around us.  We could literally see six or seven Panamax ships at any given time comming and going.(Total I would say we saw 25-30 BIG ships.  It was interesting to see all of the shapes and sizes the ships come in)    A couple of miles outside the entrance(of the Dardanelle straights) we started to pick up the opposing current.  By the time we got to the entrance we were getting at least 3 knots and maybe 4.  We had been told to watch the eddies (This is where the current is “bumping” the ground where it gets shallower.  It actually stops the current and turns it another way.  You can see a disruption in the water and there is a big noticeable difference where it is calmer.) and try to be just outside them on the Asia shore side (We were literally sailing between Europe and Asia which was awesome) but in the narrow spots there is just no water to float the boat.

We have left spring behind.  The further north we are getting, the colder it is getting.  I understand this is how the weather works, but it was like we woke up one morning and it was cold.  Being on the water and strong winds don’t help the situation.

This is a ship heading towards the entrance.  It’s a couple of miles away from us, but you get an idea of what we were on watch for.

At the worst of it with the 25 kt head wind and the 3 kt current we were making about 1.5 kts over the ground with the engine on full.(The current was pushing us back in the water and the wind was right on our nose pushing us back above water.  With the engine on full throttle in calm we can get up to 8 knots and we were only making 1.5 like Dad said.  We were essentially going up stream and weren’t getting very far at all.)  We passed a French sail boat tacking like crazy between the ships with the engine running.  I thought the guy was Joe sailor but when he pulled into the marina he said he had the engine on full and had to sail all out to make any headway at all. (We passed him going 1.5 knots.  He said the most he could get is .5 knots.)  At one point we went by a buoy and could see the current pushing it over (like a heavy tidal flow in Florida) and could have walked by it faster.

Congo line!  The three ships shown were exiting the Dardanelles where we were entering.  There is a shipping lane that yachts are advised to stay out of.  These guys were riding the current out on the opposite side of the shipping lane.

This is the French boat tacking very near and in some cases in front of the big ships.  He has a 32ft boat and is about a mile away from the ship.  I think this is a good example of sailing yacht to cargo ship ratio.

We got to the marina and tried a crosswind landing (backing up) .   I almost lost it into the bows of a row of moored boats spun around in a circle and went in bow first.  The guys on the dock were all speaking Turkish and smiling a lot... no English speakers at the marina, a first.  Big problems
getting on and off the boat from that end (There are people who can easily get on and off their boats by bow, we aren’t those people.  The metal railing on the bow extends past the actual front of the boat by about a foot, maybe two.  It’s enough that I cannot keep one foot on the deck of the boat and climb over the very front.  We rigged a gang plank but eventually decided it was easier to just climb through the rails from the side and hold onto the stay sail shroud like a jungle gym.  We also removed the anchor to have a place to put our foot as we climbed on and off using a tire that was tied to the dock as a fender as a boost up.  It was a challenge, but we were happy to get off of the boat.) but I kissed the dock and we went out for dinner and a big Raki to celebrate and unwind from yet another safe arrival.  Are we having fun yet?

I personally still am having fun.  I know it sounds like we are encountering a lot, but that is part of the deal.  It is a true adventure and nobody can deny that.