40:28N 26:43E

 

Gallipoli

 

If anyone is reading this you will know all this, but I didnât so I want to write it down.  The allied forces wanted to eliminate Turkey from WW1 in order to open up the Dardanelles to the Allies, providing a route to supply the Russian front.  It was a hairbrained scheme from the start, and when the Allies were defeated, the career ofChurchill, who at the time was 1st Lord to the Admiralty, took a downturn for some time.  Losses were huge, not only among the Australians and New Zealanders, but also the Brits, French and Indians, and ofcourse the Turks who lost countless more than the combined allied forces.  The Turkish victory signalled the  start of Kemal Ataturkâs career. He at the time of the Gallipoli battle was a Lieutenant in the Turkish Army.  (He only became known as Ataturk much later when he became the father of Modern Turkey after WW2; I think Ataturk means Father of Turkey)

 

The picture is of the Lone Pine cemetery, which is Australian/New Zealand.  What is interesting now is that Turkey has really developed the whole site and there are many, many Turkish memorials.  The sites were heaving with Turkish people by the busload and it is obviously a revered site.

 

Life in Assos

 

We are still camping here in our campsite with the best view in the world.  It has got much hotter and the place has been heaving with tourists (from Istanbul and Izmir, we think).  We hiked up the hill in the heat of the day to the amazing amplitheatre (400 BC, build during Roman occupation) and have spent the rest of the day vegging, painting & swimming in the Aegean.  Someoneâs got to do it.