Turkey - 3

Hi, On the third full day of our visit to Turkey we joined our tour group and left Istanbul.  On our way out of town we stopped at the Spice Market.  Adjoining the Spice market was a seed market, and

a pet market.  Animals sold in the pet market included dogs, chipmunks, and all kinds of birds.

One shop even sold Turkeys.

From Istanbul we drove to Gallipoli, the site of a WW I battle that was a disaster for the Allies.  The objective was to take Istanbul and thereby knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war.  After trying a naval attack up the Dardanelles, which failed, the Allies settled on a landing with ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand) and French colonial troops followed by an overland march to Istanbul.  We made the drive in a few hours the ANZAC troops were held on the beachhead from August 25, 1915 until December 20, 1915, when the last Allied troops left.

The photograph below shows a view from the landing area.  The Turks occupied the high ground.  Casualties were high on both sides with the Allies loosing about 45,000 men and the Turks almost 87,000 men.

The area is now a national park with some individual graves and some mass graves in the area.

These are remarks of Kemal Ataturk

After our visit to Gallipoli we took ferry like the one below to the Asian side of the Dardanelles and drove a short distance to our hotel.

Before dinner Ruthe and I went for a walk.  During the walk we split up and I spotted some kids getting ready to play soccer.  After I took this photo I was spotted so I walked over and the kids indicated they wanted a group photo.

While their English was limited they were able to convey they hoped their photo would be put on Facebook, which it will be when I link this blog to my Facebook page.

This our view of the hotel view from our bedroom window.

The next day we visited Troy where we learned that the story of Hellen of Troy and the Trojan Horse is just that.  The battle that was fought here was over access to an important harbor and trade routes.  Ironically, over time the harbor has silted up and become a huge field with the Dardanelles being about 5 miles away.

Blood sacrifice was a part of ancient religions.  These 3 structures were used to catch the blood.

From Troy we drove to our next overnight stop, Izmir, where we would spend the next 3 nights.  I hope you have enjoyed the photos.