Gallipoli

Last night it rained for the first time. Not only did it rain, but, it was a huge thunderstorm. It was a pretty cool experience just being in the tent and seeing the flashes of lightning followed quickly by the thunder. My tentmate, Brenton, and I were laying in the tent in the morning and talking about getting up but it was almost stopped and by the time we did it had completely stopped raining. We didn’t put the rain fly on originally last night because it was really clear but Brenton went to bed after me and he noticed it was raining so he put it on right at the very beginning. Brenton and I both have camping experience so our tent was put up really well and little to no water got in.
In the morning we got up and headed off to Turkey. I received my freshly printed Turkish Visa and we got to the Greek border. It took longer to get through the Greek border than it did to get through the Turkish border but it was still pretty easy. I got stamps for both Greece and Turkey but they got put one on top of the other and are both pretty faint so that’s pretty sad…
For lunches we eat at rest stops and that might be the thing that disappoints me the most about Contiki. All in all, the experience is pretty great but I’m already tired of buying fast food at a rest stop. Today we had Burger King. Not exactly what I’m looking for in an European experience but it’s just the lunches. I was able to spend Euros and get Turkish Lira in change so I’m glad I had enough Euros on me although I will need to restock on them when I get back to European Union countries. Food has been pretty good on the trip though despite the fast food.
The only stop we did today was at the Gallipoli memorial. The Campaign of Gallipoli was a battle in World War I between the Turks and the Australians and Kiwis (New Zealand). This was the first time that the British had called upon Australia and New Zealand to defend the “motherland.” The purpose of the battle was to control the Dardanelles and take out Istanbul so that the Brits could supply their allies in Russia. In the end, thousands of Turks, Australians, and Kiwis were dead and the British army abandoned the campaign after 9 months because the objectives weren’t being achieved. The combined forces were called the ANZAC, and today ANZAC Day is a huge day in Australia and New Zealand. It’s the equivalent of Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day combined. Now, the battlefield is a gigantic cemetery for soldiers of all the nationalities that fought in the campaign.

Tomorrow we head to Istanbul, which is super exciting. First, we are going to Troy, which will be my first time into Asia. Also, I’m really excited for Istanbul as it was one of the big highlights that I wanted to see before the trip. Finally, we are in a hotel for our time in Istanbul, which is really nice. The trip continues!