Gallipoli

When you arrive at the Gallipoli battlefields, you can immediately understand why the landings were doomed. The intelligence the British had showed smooth ground which would be easy to cover. It must have been heartbreaking for the ANZAC's when they saw the terrain, up, down, up, down. The whole area is full of gulleys, valleys and crests in such a small area. To travel 20 metres in one direction probably takes about 200 metres of actual movement. There is a road that runs directly along what was the front line and it takes you to all the battle sites in the area. The battle sites themselves are marked with monuments, both ANZAC and Turkish, and they all have cemetaries. The actual landing site at ANZAC cove is now a cemetary and has changed so much over the years with road building and car parks that the landing site is quite smaller than it once was. Looking at the gravestones is a mixture of eeriness, solemnity and wonder. There are so many that died on 25th April, 1915 the day of the landing. It is actually hard to describe and put into words what you see and experience there, so I hope that the pictures will describe it better.
Just before the Gallipoli landings, the allies tried to send ships up the Dardenelles. They bombarded the area before sailing through and destroyed the mines that the Turks had laid. However, during the night before, a small minelayer managed to put down some mines which sunk allied ships the day after and turned the naval battle in favour of the Turks. To the Turks this is a national celebration and the actual ship that laid the mines is docked in the town near Gallipoli, and has been turned into a museum. On the same site is the fortress that the allies were trying to knock out in order to get their ships up the Dardenelles, which is also now a museum. Inside there is a shell that embedded itself in the walls, that is still there. There is also, aparantly, two bullets that hit each other in mid air on the battlefield, and fused together. The amount of ammunition that must have been fired for this to happen is staggering. (I say aparently because it wasnt on display when we went through).
Another site that is near to Gallipoli but a little bit older and maybe more famous. Troy. With a site so famous and so old you would think that it would take a long time to go through. Three hours later and we had seen it all.
Ancient cities are usually small, but Troy is actually about eight cities built on top of each other. The history of Troy is interesting, but not as interesting as Homer makes it out to be. The ruins have been excavated for over 100 years and are still going. It is pretty cool to walk around a city that people lived in 3000 years ago and see that it is relatively advanced. It was a little subdued and understated for something so significant, which is probably why it only took three hours to walk through, despite reading everything and walking slowly. It was an experience, one Im glad we did. Next stop on the ancient trail, Bergama and the ruins of Pergammom.