Hi again,
Thought the last email was getting kinda long, so decided to split them up.
Gallipoli. All Aussie's and Kiwi's have been taught about this place ever since Day 1 of school, and every April 25th, Anzac Day, our nations mourn the death of the 1000's of soldiers who died here in World War 1. So to come here, and see the place in person, visiting the museums, memorials, and cemeteries, and to walk along the beach where they landed almost 90 years ago was something spectacular and moving.
We spent the best part of the day here, listening to tales told of courage, heroics, and friendships made between the Turks and Anzacs. It's stuff i'd heard hundreds of times before in school, and on TV and newspapers, but actually being there and kind of being able to imagine it happening made it all the more real to us. It was a strange experience for me, as i've never made much of it beforehand, but I certainly have a much better understanding and appreciation of the dramas now. It's funny how being in a place where history was made does that!
Troy?. The following day, we visited another site of historical importance, but one somewhat older. Troy, the one recently made into a Brad Pitt Hollywood flick (by all accounts it's crap, altho i've yet to see it). We were guided around the site for a few hours or so by a local villager and archaeologist/historian, and self-pronounced modern day Trojan warrior. To the naked eye, the site were we shown around was just a bunch of old ruins and knocked down stone/brick walls. With the help of Mustafa, we were almost able to reconstruct in our minds all of the how/why/what/when/where/who's of the 9 different stages of Trojan history, and pondered over the many different theories of the invasion of the city with the famed Trojan Horse. What could ordinarily have been rather boring was all of a sudden very interesting indeed.
6 Hours of driving in pouring rain later, and we arrived in the tiny village of Selcuk, the gateway to the ancient and amazing ruins of Ephesus.
Day 4 of our journey we spent the morning here following another well-versed guide around an ancient ruined city. Once again, an absolutely amazing experience. The main difference here was that the ruins here are in a much more well-preserved state where you can actually visualise the goings on of the Ancient Greeks and Romans around the time of Christ, and early 1st-3rd Centuries AD. Towering colums of marble, and public bathroom facilities complete with drainage systems, enormous open air theatres, and the facade of the Library of Celcius, which on its own is something to behold. And to think that this was all buried for centuries under metres of earth, and only excavated in the past 50 years or so. At some stage i'll add photos to my Yahoo Photo website and you'll get some idea.
Another of the highlights here for me so far has been the food. oh-my-God, Turkish cuisine is something else. Dining out every evening on Turkish breads and dips, kebabs, pizzas and salads, I just drool at the thought of dinner each night. It's only 4 days in and already i'm in 7th Heaven. On that note, it's almost 6pm, time for dinner.
Talk soon.
Tony
peace love and happy faces
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