Today was a long one. We left our hotel in Istanbul and rode on the bus until lunch at 1. This is a picture of the cute town we had lunch at. (dangling participle?)
We continued on to the battlefield at Gallipoli. When we were in New Zealand I, Arleen, learned about the battles there on Anzac Day. In WWI, for 10 months, Allied forces, made up mostly of Australian and New Zealand forces, tried to take control of the Dardanelles from the Ottoman Empire (pre-Turkey). 500,000 men were either injured or killed during that time. It may be the bloodiest campaign ever fought.
It was fought in a beautiful location. As you can see from the picture, the cliffs are very high. The Allies had bad maps that showed flat land, and they thought they could take over the area easily. Wrong!
It is a National Park now and the beach where they landed is renamed Anzac Beach.
There are many cemeteries at the park. This is an Allied one.
After the war and after the formation of the country of Turkey, Atiturk, the father of Turkey, wrote this in 1934:
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 Meheds to us where they lie side by side
Here inthis 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 in peace
After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.
Pretty moving I thought.
We then took a ferry across the Dardanelles to our hotel in Canakkale.
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