Turkish and Other Delights! Part Two...

And so the story of the trip continues here Part One can be found here!

So we arrived in Istanbul on Tuesday 21st April 2015 and as I said in the previous post we were struck by how many people there were and how crazy the driving was but luckily we were picked up by our tour company, Travelshop Turkey. We did make it to our hotel, The Green Park Hotel, safely and this hotel seemed quite nice. We did find it weird we didnt know anything about our start time in the morning or anything else from our tour but the guy at the desk did say that they were rather unorganised and not to worry, he'd let us know.

Dancers on the boat

Our first experience began that night began with a Bosphorus River and Dinner Cruise (to be honest we didn't quite know what to expect), people had said that it was great to cruise on the Bosphorus and see Istanbul from the water. Well we got picked up along with some others we didn't know and headed to our boat. Well this night was an experience! Food, live music, Belly dancers, other dancers from the different areas of turkey, a magic show and a recreated Sultan ceremony. Our senses were almost overloaded not to mention it went for hours and we started to get rather tired. The river was beautiful at night but as the entertainment went on the windows all fogged up and we missed a lot of the outside, which I found kind of funny since that's why we booked it. But travel is about experiencing things and that was... something haha!

The next day we began our tour at 8:30am after breakfast (breakfast was ok but they do have a thing with hard boiled eggs and these odd pastries). There were different people in the foyer who after chatting with them we all discovered we were on a Travelshop tour, we just weren't sure if we were on the same one! Anyway after a little while some tour guides turned up, separated us into our groups and we were off. Our Tour Guide's name was Torgay and we all found that funny, his name did sound just like his profession! From very early on we all realised that he knew his stuff and was even a bit of a joker so that suited us all well. There was about 20 of us on this tour (10 day Gold Tour - we did laugh many times over the fact that we were gold but didnt see how that was better than others...) and it wasn't long before we all realised that everyone was going to be alright. Actually they all turned out to be a great bunch of people, that made the trip really memorable.

Our first was spent on a walking your of certain parts of the city. It was FREEZING and wet but we still did all we were supposed to. My first purchase in Turkey was an umbrella but it was needed. We visited the Hippodrome, The Blue Mosque (which is beautiful but so crowded, trying to get your shoes back on with 300 other people on this tiny covered area so you don't get wet is an interesting experience :P), Topkapi Palace - this was quite an amazing place. You could imagine it back when it was lined with actual gold, bursting with people. I also saw the Topkapi dagger here, a beaitiful little box made out of a emerald and the 3rd largest diamond in the world, known as the Spoonmakers diamond as it had been lost by the treasury to be found again by a poor man who turned it in for 3 spoons. We had lunch at this restaurant that Torgay took us too and that was great. Good service and decent meals for a good price we were freezing when we got there! Our final stop for the day was the Spice Market or the Egyptian Market, this place was a little crazy with people but very interesting. The shop assistants tried their hardest to get you into their shops, I ended up getting ask alot "pretty lady, just a smile, give me a smile" I was tempted to charge for it haha! But we did try and buy turkish delight here and it was delicious! I wish I had some now....

Inside the Blue Mosque

Wednesday 23rd was our first day away from Istanbul and we headed to the Gallipoli Peninsula to see it before it was closed for the Anzac Day celebrations. Of course everyone else was there too but it was great to have a chance to explore the different places before. The weather was absolutely beautiful and it was at times quite moving to be standing on the places that our brave men fought and sadly died on. We signed the visitors book at Lone Pine and I was also able to find a friend's grandfather listed on the wall. Further up the hills at Chunuk Bair (the NZ Memorial) the views were amazing and we also watched as the Naval ships practiced their maneuvers for Anzac Day.

Standing on the beach that the first landing happened on

After spending a few hours here we headed back to Canakkale to then head to our hotel including taking a 30 minute ferry ride as well. Our hotel was about 2 hours after this but seemingly on the water, which Im sure would have been nice if we were there when it was light but it wasn't. The hotel Olive Odore was really not up to scratch but we were tired and it was good to sleep.

The next day was the beginning of a very long period without sleep! We began early in the morning, visited Troy which other than it being famous and actually in a way I think amazing that its real, there is not much to it except rubble But there a wooden horse :) We then headed to a shop to stock up for the night ann then a BBQ lunch/dinner before we would then head to Gallipoli. We left Canakkale at 4:30pm, leaving behind Mum and the kids from the tour and joined the line of buses, thus began our long wait in lines. A few hours sitting in the bus line, where toilet stops on the side of the road were necessary and then one little coffee vendor set up, smart move that was! Our bus driver had a habit of not being on the bus when we needed to move forward and was a rather crazy driver (he was replaced the next day). Finally we got through the bus checks and then it was out of the bus and through the security checks and receiving our lanyards and packs etc, it was all a little exciting and the helpers were all very friendly. We got through to the waiting area but didnt have to wait for a shuttle so that was great. We wanted to stick together and try and get seats if possible. The shuttle dropped us off and then we walked the rest of the way and through the final security check. Walking along in the dark with really just the sound of the water was such a surreal experience but once we walked into the main area is was rather crazy. People were everywhere, walking, sleeping on the grass, in the stands. We were fortunate to get seats altogether in the stands, which we were all thankful for, not only could you fall asleep on each other but we actually could stay seated. Those on the grass had to stand for 3 or hours near dawn so that everyone could fit in. It was 9:15pm when we sat down.

The night passed slowly but wasn't boring, there is a bit of a buzz when over 10,000 people are in one place. Our group was funny, there were a lot of jokes going around and many around us joining in. We watched the shows that they were showing on the big screens, there was entertainment from the band and the school children. We went for walks, visited the toilet (which was an experience in itself), tried to keep warm. There was only 2 food stalls and 1 coffee stall for that many people (ridiculous!) and the lines were enormous but late in the night or early in the morning 3 of the gals in our group came back to us with 16 coffees!! It was a wonderful moment! They had stood in line for over an hour and we were very thankful. It got very cold just before the service started and to move us into that time, there was some beautiful readings over music and then silence and just the sound of the water lapping. I think this to me was the most moving part of the whole experience, with the cold and no sleep it made me just wonder how our blokes did what they did.

Thanks Simon for the pic!

The Anzac Day service was lovely as I am sure many of you saw it, afterwards we had a bit of waiting to get off the stands to head up to Lone Pine. The walk up to that memorial is full on with no sleep and it was getting warmer. Its about 3km up a hill and everyone was sort of rushing, it got a bit silly at times with people pushing but this was a pretty funny walk with the people I was with. The Gendarmes were stationed along the way and when I saw some of the playing Candy Crush, I thought it was hilarious and then another fell down the hill and landed at the bottom in front of all us walkers, he put his hands up and said "I'm ok" so funny. Finally we reached the service, sat down and I have to admit it was hard to stay awake throughout the service but Prince Harry spoke well and we were glad it didn't rain very hard. We then had to sit around for hours!!! It wasn't well planned this part, everyone was sort of joking around at the start but as there wasn't any real food to buy, we were cold and tired, the badly organised buses did nothing for people's moods. We finally got onto our bus at 6pm, picked up the Kiwi's at Chunuk Bair and then headed home but we had to stop for dinner and swap our bus then we drove onto the ferry and most of us don't remember anything until we got to the hotel at midnight! 40 hours with out sleep is a big deal and so I do not remember alot after that!

Ephesus!

Pergamon on the hill

We still had five days of our tour to go and we did some really awesome things and made some hilarious memories. Some of my favourite places we visited was ancient city of Pergamon which is really high up on a hill and considering its age is quite an amazing place, I sang in the amphitheatre here which was so steep but was cool. Ephesus - this is so well preserved and just a fabulous experience, our 5 star hotel Fantasia Deluxe and free drinks - a great night of laughs and the white hills and thermal waters at Heropolis. Funny memories - the Turkish Bath that was a very bonding experience, the carpet place and the pushy sales people apparently I should buy one for my husband??! The bus trips were hilarious and how bad the Pam Thermal Hotel was and how rude they were.But even with all the confusion, bad organisation, it was nice of Travelshop to give us dinner on the final evening in Istanbul as an apology for some of what we had experienced.

The White Hills

All in all we had a fantastic time. The tour group was fantastic, I love those guys they were all such great fun but also decent people and we had some great chats. Torgay, the tour guide was great, seriously he was a great guy who really helped us out and I don't think we would have enjoyed it as much without him. The countryside was beautiful, the history is just amazing and I feel very blessed to have experienced the Centenary celebrations at Gallipoli.