Istanbul. October 19

After an earlier start, with the intention of getting a tasty Dandin breakfast and then getting the ferry to the Prince Islands, we were disappointed to find out Dandin was not open early. Early being before 10.30am according to them. So instead we postponed our ferry until 12pm and got tasty coffee to wait out until Dandin opened. Sadly at 10.30am the chef was not there so no Dandin. We cried inside a lot. Then recouped and got breakfast elsewhere. Not as good but still tasty. Then we walked to the ferry terminal and caught the ferry to Büyükada, the main island. It takes about 100mins to get there and the ferry journey was pretty nice.

Arriving we got the traditional Turkish ice cream, which is really weird and stretchy, like so stretchy, and so delish. We then went in search of Trotsky's house, who once lived on the island. There was an exhibit there as a part of the Biennale, which meant his house was open to the public, a rarity, but sadly as it was a Monday it was closed.

Trotsky house

A part of the exhibition we sneakily spied

The whole island is full of Victorian mansions, which are either dilapidated or really beautiful and we both were amazed. Also no cars are on the island, only horse and carriages (with very sickly looking horses) and heaps of cyclists. We spent considerable time wandering the streets and looking at all the cool houses and talking to many cats. Elise actually had a proper cat conversation with one which basically went like this:

E: Hey cat!
C: Go away. My house.
E: Oh hey you're so cute!
C: No. Away with you.
E: Hahahahah oh cat.
C: I'm srs. Leave now.
E: Okay Ash we can leave now

Note: not conversation cat

Ash on her invisible horse carriage

And then we left and kept discovering the island. We then had to go to Starbucks because we had to online check in for our flight home. This took some time but we sorted it out just in time to get the ferry back to Istanbul. Back in Istanbul we literally ran back to our apartment because we needed to pee then we left to go get our last night in Turkey food, shake shack. Oops.

We spent the night packing and blogging, trying to finish before we get home!

Much love,
A&E

Istanbul. October 18

Today we went to get breakfast at Aheste again, but we got there and it was full of Sunday breakfasters, so we decided to come back in an hour or so.
In that time we went and had a look at the oldest Turkish Delight shop in Istanbul.
We got breakfast finally, Elise had Turkish fried eggs and Ash had a potato omelette. And we shared a breadbasket! Super yum!
After lunch we went to the shops near Galata Tower to do some tourist shopping which we did super quick because we are too lazy to haggle/bother. Oops.

After taking our stuff home and uploading a few blogs, we headed back down to Karakoy to get some gelato from a place we had seen come up on instagram, and then we went to a coffee shop, an Australian brew one, and drank coffee and read the Istanbul magazine.

For dinner we returned to Cok Cok (chok chok) Thai, in Pera, the same place we had been to on our first visit! It was super delicious, of course. We got chicken satay skewers for entrée, beef red curry stir fry and massaman chicken. We also shared a poached pear and icecream for dessert.

We headed home, uploaded some more blogs, and went to bed!

Love A&E

Istanbul (Gallipoli). October 17

Today was adventure day. We were picked up at 6am to go to Gallipoli, a 5 hour drive away. Luckily on our bus there we only have 3 other people so could take up heaps of room and basically nap the entire way.

Half way there we stopped for a traditional Turkish breakfast of bread, boiled egg, cucumber and tomato and some cheese and meat. And tea of course. Then back on the bus to continue the journey.

We finally arrived at midday in Eceabat, which is the base point to go to Gallipoli and Troy and just across the Dardanelles from Canakalle, the main town in this region. We had lunch with the group and then got on a bus with several more people, mostly Australians, and our tour guide for the day, and headed to the main areas of Gallipoli. First stop was Brighton Beach, where the ANZAC troops were supposed to land at 4am on the 25th of April 1915. They actually landed at ANZAC cove, but we saw why this region would have been a better choice. The landscape was significantly flatter and would have been easier to scale so early in the morning. We were given comprehensive information throughout the entire tour from our guide of not only the important details of the ANZACs and their plight but also the Ottoman side of the war. Mainly just why they were drawn into the war, because the Germans were providing them with battle ships and other things they could use, and also why the ANZACs and the Allies came to this region of Turkey. Their target was 'the narrows', a section of the Dardanelles between Eceabat and Canakkale that once they came through, they could essentially conquer Istanbul, and with that, the Ottoman Empire while it would also provide a quick route to Russia for supplies.

WWII Bunker (they were neutral, these were just precautionary)

Another key point we learnt about was the hero of the Turkish/Ottoman campaign, Mustafa Ataturk, who after fighting in WWI, then fought in the war of Independence and became Turkey's first president. Now they all admire and respect him greatly like a king.

We moved on from Brighton Beach to ANZAC cove, a small area which was one of the three landing spots on the 25th of April 1915. The cliff face from the beach to the top of hill they climbed up was steep and we were pretty amazed how they managed it, especially in such low light so early in the morning. We also went to the Northern beach, another landing spot, and Ari Burnu, where there is a cemetery for the fallen ANZAC soldiers there. It was actually really nice, with a pretty quiet spot, surrounded by trees and looking out over the Aegean Sea and it was a really beautiful day, perfect to take it all in.

Then and now

So steep!

The 'Sphinx'

Placing Poppies

Ataturk's famous speech "Your son's are now lying in our bosom...they have become our sons as well"

A famous Gallipoli story for the Turks, of a Turkish man helping an Ally get to safety 

After this we caught the bus up to Lone Pine, where the battle of Lone Pine took place and where one of the major memorials for the ANZACs. It has a big monument and inside is a guest book where you can record your visit. It also has a vast cemetery where we spent some time looking at all the gravestones of those fallen, seeing how young they were and how close in age most of them were to us.

ANZAC trench

We then went to the Turkish memorial which was really busy, compared to the other memorials. Apparently it wasn't busy at all and usually in summer there are usually 30,000 Turkish people that make the trip to the site on any weekend. After here we went to Chunuck Bair, the site of the battle between the Ottomans and the New Zealand troops. This was basically another huge Turkish memorial, vastly dedicated to Ataturk and his amazing story of survival where he dodged damage from shrapnel, that could have been life threatening, through a pocket watch. Amazing!

This was the final stop on the tour and we went back on the bus to Istanbul, getting back at the late hour of midnight. We were so exhausted we basically went straight to sleep.

Love A&E

Istanbul. October 16

This morning we ate tomato, a weird form of parmesan and chilly on toast (pan fried toast, because we make do with what we got).
We did some stuff around the apartment in the morning, and for lunch we went back for a second attempt at NaPizza. Successful this time! Except that they couldn’t provide us with any of the entrees and most importantly, arancini. They also gave us one of our pizzas wrong, but dats cool. But the atmosphere of the courtyard in the day was night, and the cool heritage building on site is fun.

We took our computer back to Dandin for more blogging in the afternoon and had smoothies again and a walnut and espresso cake.

We didn’t have dinner tonight because we had afternoon tea and were going to bed really early for tomorrows trip to Gallipoli.

Love A&E xxx