Gallipoli. Day 2.

Gallipoli

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 Mehmets to us where they lie side by side now here in this country of ours... you, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.  

These are the famous words of Ataturk, which are inscribed on the wall at ANZAC COVE.

Today Peter and I met up with our personal guide from Hassle Free Tours in Cannakale.  Our leader was Seyhan Aksoy and he was excellent.  We were taken to the harbour in our private vehicle, boarded the ferry for Eceabat and a nice lunch was awaiting us before the tour commenced.

After lunch we travelled across the peninsula to meet up with the captain of our boat that would take us up to the dive site over the supply ship SS Milo.  This gave us a great chance to check out ANZAC COVE and the surrounding shoreline just like the soldiers did on the 25 April 1915.  We had seen it from the ground yesterday, and today we got to see it from the ocean.  It gave us an amazing perspective on just how silly it was to try and capture the Turks in this terrain.  It was obvious it was doomed for failure right from the outset.

We arrived at the dive site directly which is about 100 metres off shore where the ANZAC DAY dawn service is held each year.  It was here that many young soldiers decided to jump from their ship and try and make it to shore to avoid the hail of bullets that was coming down on them from the Turkish soldiers on top of the ridge line.  Most of the soldiers drowned trying to make the shore carrying their heavy backpacks and rifles.  I'd find it hard to swim to shore in my clothing let alone carrying over 30kgs of supplies and ammunition.

I decided against diving on the site because I still had a bit of cold and needed to be 100% for tomorrow's ride.  Peter put his wet suit on and plunged into the icy cold waters of the Mediterranean.

The photo above is Peter playing whales over the site of the SS Milo about 100 metres off the shore of ANZAC COVE.
The photo above is Peter coming back to the boat and feeling very good about his achievement. Not many Australians can say they've dived on a ship used in the Gallipoli campaign. I could see the ship clearly from the safety of the boat, and yes, I was tempted to put the dive suit on and jump in.  I'll get plenty of time to go diving when I get home.

 The photo above was taken on board the Hassle Free tours ship. 

 The photo above was taken about 100 metres off shore from the Dawn Service site at ANZAC COVE. When you visit the site, it looks so different to what you see on TV, and much smaller. The Turks are preparing for enormous celebrations for the 100 year anniversary in 2015.
The photo above is just south of ANZAC COVE.  Once again many graves can be found along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

After the boat trip, our next destination was the 80 million Lira Simulation Centre.  This centre shows the Gallipoli campaign from the Turks angle.  It's a high tech video re enactment of the landing, land battles, ships being sunk and bombs going off all over the place. You walk through about 12 rooms each showing a different side of the battle.  Peter and I were given headsets which gave an English version of events.  I was so impressed with the simulation centre and thought this topped off the entire 2 days.  I had received the history from Adem yesterday from the land, and today I had been further enriched by Seyhan whilst anchored off ANZAC COVE, and finally the simulation centre.  

The photo above was taken inside the Simulation Centre of the items on display of ammunition and pistols.

After the simulation centre we were driven back to the harbour to catch the ferry back across the Dardanelles to Cannakale.  We had another great day on tour and still have a couple more before the loop is closed in Istanbul.

Tomorrow we get back on the bikes and make our way closer to Istanbul.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.