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Written by Keith Rhoades
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Friday, 10 November 2006 |
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Hi all....I'm now in cannakale (pronounced sha-na-ka-lee). It has been a long day. Last night I went out with charlash and Oktay and their girlfriends and we went out at midnight...we did not get home until 3AM and I had to leave at 5 am...so I opted not to sleep. It was sad to say goodbye to them...they were all wonderful hosts. That is always the part about these trips taht are bittersweet and melancholy....you meet so many wonderful people, break bread together, talk about your life at a very intimate level...and then you say goodbye knowing that you will probably never see them again. At 5 am I took a taxi to sultanahamet where I got the bus to Gallipoli...I was the only American...everyone else was Australia and New Zealand. Gallipoli peninsula was in War one like Normandy to the aussies and kiwi. They lost thousands of people....I did not know too much about it. The gallipoli tour was sobering (and cold!)...We visited the trenches that still stand, the thousands of headstones of Turks Germans and the allies New Zealand, France, England, Australia. The battle raged for 9 months in 1915 and 120,000 people were shot dead and 500,000 total died from the elements disease, etc. Most of the headstones said age 18, 23, 25..very young. Tears welled up a few times and there was a Veterans Day memorial service. It made me very sad since WWI was supposed to be the War to end all Wars...and it has happened so many times since then and all of those innocent boys never had a chance to live their life...and it was all for nothing in the end anyway...for it all happened again and again and again. The museum was sobering as well...they had letters, diaries, even a skull with the bullet still in it. There was also information on there was so much death there the smell and flies was unbearable. It was sort of like a Mecca visit for Aussies..since they lost so many. The tour was really great though, thought provoking and moving. We also saw the Aegean Sea....it was beautiful turquoise and you could see some of the Turkish and Greek islands. After the tour they took us out to a very nice dinner on the ocean and took me to my hostel...the Anzac House. I have a single room with shared bathroom and showers for 18 dollars. So now I am going to wind down and try to get to sleep early because tomorrow I have to have breakfast at 6:30 and then my bus departs for Troy at 7:45..I will tour Troy and then end up in Izmir tomorrow night. It's funny...I’ve not even been here a week and I feel like I've been here for a month. Well, I guess that is about it for now. Peace,Keith
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