Gallipoli, Turkey

We spent a week on the Gallipoli penninsula in western Turkey. We stayed in a stunning village called Kilitbahir.

Kilitbahir

This was a cute little village with an incredible castle and other fortifications dominating it. The castle was built in the 1400s and the surrounding fortifications near the water were built just before WWI. The castle and fortifications were used in March 1915 to defend the Dardanelles from the attacking British and French ships.

We stayed in a cute historic stone cottage surrounded by a ton of cats. We really enjoyed the authenticity of the village. We filled our water jugs at the village fountain and bought fresh bread (including Ramazan pides – only baked during Ramadan) at the local bakery with an amazing oven.

War Memorials and Trenches

We drove around the penninsular visiting different war memorials (Turkish, British and ANZAC) and surrounding the memorials and graveyards you could still see the remnants of trenches all up and down the hills. It was very sobering to see the terrain there and really get an understanding of what the Brits and ANZACS were up against.

Cannakale

We took the ferry one day from Kilitbahir across the Dardanelles and over to Cannakale (pronounced Cha-NAH-kah-lay). This is the largest city around the area and had some cute shopping and restaurant streets. It is also the closest city to Ancient Troy and is therefore the resting place of the Trojan Horse used in the Hollywood film ‘Troy’. We were originally planning on visiting Ancient Troy but the entrance fee is over 30 euros per person (plus the extra cost on the ferry for the car) and apparently it is mostly rubble now so we decided it wasn’t worth it. While walking around the city, we discovered a student restuarant where we enjoyed a 4 course meal (lentil soup, pilaf rice, main course, salad and free unlimited bread) for only 220 Lira (approx. 4 euros) each. The portions were large too!

Next stop: Istanbul