Istanbul to Çanakkale
Overview
The total driving time from Istanbul to Canakkale is between 4 – 5 hours. Roadside Turkish food is akin to restaurant quality and taste and you can save on time and money with this option, leaving your luxury tastebuds for the evening meal when you can truly relax over a sumptuous dinner and glass of wine. We stopped after a few hours in Tekirdağ, a coastal town on the Balkan peninsula for a quick coffee and an armchair massage for about 2 or 3 Turkish lira. Later we had lunch at a Shell service station! My home country really needs to up its standards for quick takeaway – we were treated to eggplant and beef, spinach, yoghurt with cucumber and beef kofte. If you’re in a hurry, don’t ever be afraid to try the local food option: it never failed me.
Essentials
Gallipoli (Gelibolu) Peninsula
- Anzac Cove
- Beach Cemetery, Anzac Cove
- Respect to Mehmetcik Site
- The Lone Pine
- 57th Infantry Regiment (Turkish) Memorial
- Chunuk Bair (NZ) Memorial
- Conkbayırı Atatürk Anıt Memorial
- WWI Battlefields – original trenches and tunnels
- Johnston’s Jolly Cemetery
- The Nek
ANZAC Cove & The Beach Cemetery
As an Australian, this portion of the trip held high significance. I was about to have all my preconceived ideas about this war completely shattered however.
As a youngster in school, we are told of the heroicism of the Australian allies who helped fight alongside the Kiwis, British, French & Russian forces in the battle against the Ottoman empire. We were not, however, enlightened to the fact that we were the invaders, attempting to siege the prize waterway of the Dardenelles from the Turks in an attempt to control this supply route to Russia for commercial trade and military operations as part of the connection between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. In any case, the entire peninsula is completely moving: I have grown up with the concept of ANZAC day, with many of my colleagues or friends having either made the trek to the shores of Gallipoli for a dawn service on 25th April, or congregated in their local community to remember those who fought for us. The war veterans who exist to this day, attend in their suits, laden in their medallions.
Needless to say, I was incredibly moved by this experience. Somehow you have a picture in your mind of these places and the real life version never quite matches. So it was with shock that I saw the slopes (and hence one mistake of the ‘allies’) from the shore where they arrived, to the height of the sand hills to which they climbed in order to attack, one named ‘The Sphinx’ for its uncanny resemblance to the Egyptian structure. This was highlighted to me as their vital mistake: the allies had unfortunately drifted too far along the Dardanelles and missed their designated spot to alight. Nevertheless, it conjured a vivid image of the land upon which the work of Simpson’s donkey took plight and of all my forebears who fought for me to live the independent and free life that I do today. Indeed who allowed me to venture to this very place.
ANZAC cove itself is a large grassy open area with a gradual decline down the stone sign shown below. The waterway can be accessed below this, from the pebbled rocky shore.
From here we were driven to The Beach Cemetery for the ANZACs. It’s in a most beautiful and peaceful point overlooking the peninsula and it was beyond comprehension to read the tombstones indicating the ages of these men. Although 18 was the minimal legal age to enlist, the youngest Australian to serve was 14 when he died.
Particularly moving was a quote, presumed to be spoken by the revolutionary Turkish leader Atatürk which was on a plaque near the entry to the ANZAC graveyard, reading:
I imagined how the mothers with sons befallen who travelled to this region would have felt reading this sign. There were tears on a few faces.
Respect to Mehmetcik Site
Mehmetcik is the name commonly given to Turkish soldiers and this monument speaks of humanity. It symbolises the event whereby a Turkish soldier held up a white flag and in doing so, ceasefire occurred. The Turkish soldier carried a wounded Australian officer across to Australian lines and then returned to his lines before the fight resumed. There is a statement on the monument by Lord Richard Casey, the Australian staff captain with the 3rd Brigade in the Australian army, of his respect for the Turkish army.
The Lone Pine
The Lone Pine Battlefield took its name from the solitary Turkish pine tree that stood on the 400 Plateau, holding a commanding viewpoint all the way to Gaba Tepe. This battle represented an ANZ victory however eventually they were evacuated due to the overall loss of the war.
In present day times, the plateau holds more graves, a memorial, the pine and a view of the ocean below, albeit through a scrubby bushland.
Personally, my father told me the family connection to this place. My Nanna’s mum’s brother, Uncle Alf Watkins, fought at Gallipoli and was wounded quite badly: he had his chest blown open and was shipped to Egypt where he recovered with some shrapnel still in his body. He recovered enough to go on and fight in France and still return home and live into his nineties. While he was in Gallipoli he collected seeds from a cone of the Lone Pine and brought them home. He managed to get at least one to germinate and the tree is still alive in the Returned & Services League (RSL) park at Lucindale, South Australia.
57th Infantry Regiment Memorial
The mix of tourists transiting through Turkey on such trips as the one we were on are oft comprised of many Australians, Kiwis and British. As such, our tour guide admitted that this next stop was not highlighted on the trip brochure but his pride in his country prompted his desire to show us this stop. I am glad that he did. It is a largely symbolic (but very impressive) memorial to the many Turkish soldiers who have their names inscribed on plaques or on the walls.
The Turkish 57th Infantry Regiment was the first defending unit to enter battle after the Allies landed on Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915. The 19 Division commander, Staff Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk, the founder of modern day Turkey), famously ordered them, “I am not ordering you to attack. I am ordering you to die. During the time before we die other forces and commanders will take our place.”
Chunuk Bair Memorial & Conkbayırı Atatürk Anıt Memorial
These two memorials occupy the Chunuk Bair panoramic site, amongst the many pine trees and trenches which one can walk around in to gain a sense of what it was like for the soldiers. I was incredibly surprised with just how shallow these trenches were, many only waist height. The 360 degree view overlooking ANZAC cove and the surrounding plains is just jaw dropping and it really is quite conflicting marrying together the horror of times past to the beauty of the present.
Chunuk Bair is a peak atop the Sari Bair mountain range, the highest ridge that slopes its way down to the impressive bluff, ‘The Sphinx’, at ANZAC Cove. For months the battle had raged predominantly on two fronts, Anzac and Helles, at great cost and little gain. The attempt to capture Sari Bair ridge represented a new challenge to reinvigorate the Allies troops. The Battle of Lone Pine was a diversionary tactic to distract the Turks and allow the ANZACs to seize Chunuk Bair, as well as Hill Q, regions sometimes referred to as ‘The Nek’. The Kiwis were successful at capturing and holding Chunuk Bair, however this lasted only two days after which time they abandoned due to Turkish artillery bombardment. Mustafa Kemal then poured in reinforcements to ‘seal the deal’.
The Chunuk Bair Memorial lists the names of 850 New Zealand soldiers who fought at Gallipoli, most during the Sari Bair offensive, with no known graves. The Turkish Conkbayiri Memorial on the peak of Chunuk Bair is a huge statue of the Turkish hero, Mustafa Kemal, (later Atatürk, “Father of the Turks”), leader of the Ottoman 57th Regiment.
Johnston’s Jolly
This Allied Cemetery is a short distance from Lone Pine, reached via a small road that marks the area known as ‘no mans land’, where Turkish and Allied Troops were at deadlock.
The Nek
“The Nek” (‘mountain pass’ in Afrikaans) was a ridgeline where Australian and New Zealand trenches faced Turkish trenches. A tragic battle occurred here in which Australian and New Zealand troops staged an attack on the Turkish trenches, however, the Turks were ready for the attack and many ANZACs were killed.
The Dardanelles
After a long day of touring Gallipoli, it was time to cross from Europe to Asia via the Dardenelles (or Çanakkale Boğazı, ‘Canakkale Strait’). This narrow natural strait and internationally significant waterway in the northwest of Turkey stretches 61 kilometres long and spans a width of between 1.2 to 6 kilometres. The Daradenelles connects the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, while also allowing passage to the Black Sea by extension via the Bosphorus.
A ferry connects the town of Eceabat to Çanakkale and we spent a little time roaming the shoreline of Eceabat while awaiting our ferry. You’ll find a few little bars to buy beer and street vendors selling the ubiquitous roasted corn on the cob and roasted chestnuts. On the harbour front adjacent the ferry port are two poignant memorials as part of the ‘Respect for History’: Tarihe Saygı Anıtı, which at 12 metres high, displays soldiers from both sides and Tarihe Saygı Parkı, a topographical representation of the Gallipoli battlefield terrain and the soldiers within them, some laid slain on the ground, others hiding in the trenches, gun loaded. It’s absolutely spine chilling how close the trenches of opposing forces were to each other and is superbly displayed in this ‘locked in action’ piece. From one side of the depiction, I looked across merely a metre or two down the barrel of a brass soldier holding his gun in my direction. There is also a collection of busts of key Turkish officers involved in the Gallipoli battles, including Atatürk.
The ferry is a pleasant 20 – 30 minute ride in the open sea breeze (if you choose to sit outside) allowing one to decompress after a full and confronting day. A small shop inside sells cold drinks and snacks. After passing countless (ridiculously) huge tankers utilizing the Dardanelles thoroughfare for trade, we arrived at Çannakale and were safely within the confines of our hotel after another 15 minutes on the coach.
The Çannakale nightlife on the night we rolled in was a little bit rubbish. After a rose at Troy huqka lounge, a beer at Bplani coffee bar and a black Russian at B plus bar, it was time for bed.
