Canakkale and Gallipoli, Turkey

I left Selcuk and took a bus to Izmir, and then another bus to Canakkale. Canakkale is a small city on the coast of the Dardanelles. It is the largest town nearest to Gallipoli. I arrived in the evening and was met by my couchsurfer, Yagmur – a Turkish student who was studying Japanese language teaching at the local university. We bought a chicken durum roll and walked to her apartment. She lived in a huge apartment with two other students. They were all lovely girls and they were great hosts, they would make me food and were so friendly. That night we bonded over music and we ended up sitting on the floor in the living room singing songs on the ukulele. They were going to a student party the following night with a karaoke theme, and they suggested that we all sing a song on the ukulele. So we decided on a simple song – 'Call Me Maybe' and practiced it.


The next day I had booked a tour to Gallipoli. Gallipoli is a very important place for New Zealanders and Australians because it was the site of a huge, gruelling, bloody battle from WWI. We suffered large casualties in the battle and the men had survived under terrible conditions – 9 months of trench warfare in one of the hottest summers on record, and then, ironically, one of the coldest winters on record.

The Gallipoli campaign was a series of blunders right from the start. The British were interested in securing the Dardanelles in order to get control of Constantinople (Istanbul) and thus end the war. They had planned to send the Navy up through the straights to the city. Deluded, the British commanders believed that they could simply turn up and that Turkey would surrender to them immediately. They had grossly underestimated their enemy. The Turks put up a strong defence against the Navy and destroyed several of their most powerful ships. Many battleships sank.

So Churchill and Kitchener formed a new plan – a land infiltration. The British, French, New Zealander and Australian troops were involved.
The New Zealand and Australians – the ANZACS, were meant to land on a specific beach which was flat and wide. Their directions were to secure the beach and advance into the land, securing strategic positions and taking control of the northern Dardanelle coast. However, the marker that was floating in front of the beach had shifted in the tide, and when dawn broke and the men landed at the beach, they found themselves in a very different position. They were on a narrow beach surrounded by cliffs. The Turks were waiting at the top of the cliffs and rained attacks on them right away. The beaches were stained red from the blood of our men. And that was only the first day. The battle raged for many months before the men were called to retreat and were evacuated out.
Growing up in New Zealand you hear about Gallipoli a lot, but it was so powerful to actually visit the place and see if for myself. The people on my tour were mostly middle aged New Zealanders, with a few Aussies and other nationalities. Our tour began at a restaurant where lunch was included in the price of the tour. It was a scrumptious lunch, and it gave us a chance to get to know the other people on the tour.
We loaded into a medium sized tour bus and our guide talked us through the day's program. It was fascinating to visit each beach – first we visited the beach they were meant to land at, at then we moved to ANZAC Cove, where they actually had landed. It was a beautiful sunny day, and it was hard to imagine how it had looked as the sun rose over the land on that fateful morning when they arrived. It was very moving. Grown men had tears in their eyes.
I had watched a documentary on Gallipoli the day before I had taken the tour, and it really helped me to remember many of the details and imagine everything as it had been. The day to day reality of life in the trenches. We visited some trenches – even 100 years later the scars on the land remained and you could still walk through the maze of trenches.
We visited the Australian memorial at Lone Pine, and then the New Zealand memorial at Chunuk Bair. It was a very special moment.


We were just about to drive back to town when the bus made a tight curve a bit too fast and the wheel suspension broke. The wheel itself was fine, but everything holding up that side of the bus collapsed. The bus limped to a stop, nursing a large tilt. In fact, the bus driver was going to keep driving but all the NZ men felt the lurch and the subsequent lean and ordered the driver to stop. Then a bunch of NZ guys got out and assessed the situation. I couldn't help but laugh – it was such a NZ male thing to do – I was pleased to be back in the company of practical men who could fix just about anything with that Kiwi 'no. 8 wire' mentality. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done for the bus and our guide arranged for two other buses to pick us up and take us back.


I got back to Canakkale and was in a rush to get to the apartment in time for the student karaoke party. I walked in the door just in time – they were about to leave! I grabbed my ukulele and headed out the door with them. We took a taxi to town and made our way into the crowded bar. It was absolutely packed! Soon a band started to play. We danced and sang (although it was all in Turkish so I could only dance). It was a lot of fun, and a nice release after quite an intense day!
The band finished and the karaoke began. The Turkish young people were great – they were very confident and just went out and had fun regardless of their singing ability. They would really encourage and support one another, and they all had so much fun. I admired their freedom! It's not like that in New Zealand!



Our turn came and we headed up on stage with my ukulele. I played as loudly as I could but unfortunately the sound of the ukulele was very quiet compared to all the noise going on. Despite that, we sang our hearts out and had a great time performing! Yagmur and I left shortly after that – I was exhausted!

The next morning I packed up my bags and headed on the bus to my final Turkish destination - Istanbul.