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Setting for the doomed Allied landings of 1915, names such as Lone Pine and The Nek are etched in Anzac folklore but as I discovered the Gallipoli sites are of equal importance to the Turks whose ancestors fought and died here too. I visited Gallipoli in the summer of 2007 and found it more than lived up to expectations - a must see for anyone interested in World War I and you don't even have to be Australian! |
DAY 1: GETTING THERE Never drive in Istanbul if you can possibly help it! I'd read this over and over on the internet and believe me it is true! The second I emerged from Ataturk International Airport with my hired car, I was hit not only by the searing heat of Istanbul but by the realisation that I was about to join the roundabout from hell, with little or no idea of which lane I should be in and which exit I should take for Gallipoli. Sure, it looks easy enough on the map but plunged into the madness of Istanbul traffic  it is no picnic I can tell you. I have driven across much of western Europe, but Paris in rush hour doesn't even come close. Somehow, more by luck than design, I managed to find the correct route and after about an hour of chaotic driving and seriously near misses I was finally on my way. The town of Gelibolu which gave its name to the peninsula (and the battle) is actually quite far removed from the battlefield areas My destination was Eceabat, a small coastal town on the Gallipoli peninsula situated within a few kilometres of Cape Helles and Anzac Cove. This involves a journey of around 400 kilometres, about four hours drive once clear of Istanbul. The E80 motorway takes you only the first 100 kilometres or so before veering off in a different direction altogether. There is a toll but it is cheap and straightforward, operating on a similar system to French motorways. After Silviri, you join the D110 which follows the coastal road to Tekirdag, the only sizeable town before Gallipoli and roughly the halfway point of the journey. Although the map shows a more direct coastal route to Gallipoli from Tekirdag, my advice is to stay with the main road all the way to Kesan be fore turning left at the crossroads (clearly signposted Gelibolu and Eceabat). Even the main Turkish roads are not the best and minor routes are likely to be in a worse condition. The small town of Eceabat (population 4,700) is an ideal base for exploring the battlefields and a little more lively than this photograph suggests! I had a tinge of excitement as I drove past Gelibolu, the town that gave its name to the peninsula, and a half hour or so later arrived at Eceabat, just as darkness was beginning to creep in from across the Dardanelles. With my hotel overlooking the Straits and the lights of Canakkale shining across the water I was really looking forward to setting out to explore the peninsula the next day. DAY 2: CAPE HELLES I didn't really have much of an idea what to expect from the Gallipoli battlefields. I was armed only with my trusty 'Major & Mrs Holt's Battle Map of Gallipoli' which came in very handy, but to be fair most of the sites are very well signposted anyway. Battlefield tourism is a big thing in Turkey (well, certainly at Gallipoli) and there are lots of bus tours available, operating from Canakkale and I believe Eceabat also. A hired car on the other hand allows you to take in the sites at your own pace. Ataturk Memorial I headed south for Cape Helles, the southernmost tip of the peninsula and the site of the initial Allied landings. En route, the coastal road passes through Kilitbahir which directly faces Canakkale at a point known as 'The Narrows'. Here you can see some of the coastal fortifications which put paid to Churchill's plans for the Royal Navy to force the Straits in March 1915. Presently, the road passes a number of beautifully-lanscaped Turkish war cemeteries, before arriving at Alcipete, a lively little town with lots of stalls, shops and cafes. A good place to stock up with water before venturing any further. There is also a little 'Gallipoli 1915' war museum.  The Canakkale Martyr's Memorial lies a few kilometres south of Alcipete. This is the main Turkish memorial at Gallipoli, set in beautiful gardens with a large military cemetery and various statues and monuments dedicated to the heroics of Ataturk and his men. With a mass of visitors descending on this impressive site, it is here that you begin to realise just how important Gallipoli is to the Turkish people. Canakkale Martyrs' Memorial, near Alcipete By now it was mid-afternoon and beginning to get rather hot but a cool sea breeze kept temperatures just about bearable. It was only a short drive to Cape Helles and the main British and Commonwealth Memorial, a towering obelisk overlooking the entrance to the Straits. British troops landed on the beaches beneath the memorial on 25th April, meeting  strong resistance. Some of those who fell are buried in two CWGC cemeteries - V Beach and Lancashire Landing Cemetery - situated on either side of the Memorial. Looking towards the Cape Helles British & Commonwealth Memorial I also visited the isolated British Cemeteries of Pink Farm, Skew Bridge and Redoubt, the latter marking the furthest point of advance of the Allied landings, just short of Alcipete. My visit to Cape Helles was rounded off with a visit to the very large French Military Cemetery (the role of the French at Gallipoli is often overlooked but the fact that there are 2,340 individual graves and over 12,000 unidentified remains suggests this should not be the case). DAY 3: ANZAC COVE If you've seen the film, then Anzac Cove really represents what Gallipoli is all about for most people. I was expecting to hear at least a few 'g'days' on my travels but to my surprise there was hardly an Aussie or New Zealander to be seen. Wrong time of year I guess. Instead, there were plenty of Turkish visitors around to exchange a few pleasant greetings. In the last few years, the Turkish government has spent a small fortune on  upgrading the battlefields with landscaping, new road signs and best of all, what appears to be a brand new road surface linking the monuments and sites of interest. Ari Burnu CWGC Cemetery, Anzac Cove Like Cape Helles, Anzac is easily accessed from Eceabat. An obvious starting point is the Information Centre and Museum located at Gabatepe. This turns out to be a traditional museum with excellent displays of photographs and artefacts from the battle. The only problem was a clearly disinterested curator (perhaps he was just having a bad day). Ari Burnu CWGC Cemetery, Anzac Cove A more modern visitors centre lies a few hundred yards further on and sells a wide range of souvenirs relating to the battle. This is also the last chance to stock up on water and ice cream (!) before Anzac. From the visitors centre, there is a choice: the coastal road which leads directly to Anzac or the road that runs over the top of Pine Ridge. I chose the former, and was soon speeding along with the Aegean Sea shimmering a brilliant blue to my left. The cliffs overlooking the beach soon came into view and a CWGC signpost for Lone Pine, 1.5 kilometres uphill. Ditching the car, I clambered up the steep , craggy path, passing Shell Green Cemetery - venue of an impromptu cricket match in 1915 - and eventually reached Lone Pine Cemetery & Monument. You can easily reach Lone Pine by car by taking the road along the top of Pine Ridge, but there was something very satisfying about making the climb to the top in the footsteps of the 'Diggers'. Lone Pine Cemetery Anzac Cove itself is pretty much as you'd expect if you've seen 'Gallipoli' (although filmed in Australia the resemblance to the real thing is striking) but I was surprised how small and secluded it is compared to the other beaches around it. With the tide right in, Anzac must have been something of a narrow bottleneck. Standing on the beach, you have a tremendous vantage of the cliffs and the enormity of the task the troops had scaling the heights comes into perspective. The rocky promontory of 'The Sphinx' is a stunning natural landmark that must have captivated as much then as it does today.  Looking from Anzac towards 'The Sphinx' DAY 4: PINE RIDGE & SUVLA BAY This time, I took the road along the top of Pine Ridge which essentially traverses the front line positions running along the top of the cliffs. This is a one-way road with stopping off points next to the many cemeteries and memorials. The road first passes Lone Pine on the left and a succession of CWGC Cemeteries including the wonderfully-named Johnston's Jolly, so- called as the Australian officer here liked to 'jolly up' the enemy in ways that one can only imagine. The Nek A main focal point for Turkish visitors is the spectacular 57th Infantry Regiment Memorial and Cemetery. A little further on, one of the key positions on the battlefield and a place of great notoriety for Anzac troops - The Nek. This narrow, shrub-covered ridge was the main objective of the disastrous Light Horse attack of 7th August 1915, costing over 300 lives. Today, the summit is crowned with a small CWGC cemetery with a small section of trenches alongside.  New Zealand Monument, Chunuk Bair The road continues to reach the highest point of the battlefield, Chunuk Bair, the scene of a failed New Zealand assault on 9th/10th August. On the crest, there is a large New Zealand Memorial and next to it, a huge statue of Ataturk who orchestrated the defence of the ridge against the invader. It was on this spot that the Turkish Commander was miraculously saved when his pocket watch took the impact of flying shrapnel. Again, this is a popular tourist spot for Turkish visitors and a magnet for souvenir stalls and ice cream vendors. In the early evening, I headed for Suvla Bay, scene of the British landings of 6th August that represented a final, desperate attempt to force a successful outcome to the campaign. Suvla is off the beaten track as far as battlefield tourism is concerned. Suvla Bay Of the four CWGC cemeteries in the area, only two are easily accessable and even these involve a bone-shuddering journey along an appalling track of several long kilometres. It is worth it though to reach the far side of the bay, where a single Turkish Monolith stands testament to the failure of the Allied operation but also to the courage of men on both sides of the trenches who fought and died in this remarkable place.
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Gallipoli battlefield sites are free and accessable to the public at all times The Museum & Information Centre at Gabatepe has a small admission charge of 2 TYL The Gallipoli Milli Park Visitors' Centre at Eceabat has free admission but there is a small car-parking charge of 3 TYL |
TIPS FOR VISITING GALLIPOLI: I found visiting the Gallipoli battlefields to be an exhilirating and enjoyable experience. The people are friendly, the sites are safe, well-signposted, easily accessed and not as isolated as you might imagine. These are a few suggestions for getting the most from your visit. If you are hiring a car, bear in mind that Eceabat is the only place anywhere near the battlefields where you can buy petrol. That said, you will not run up a great deal of mileage as the sites are all fairly close together.
If you hire a car from Istanbul to get to Gallipoli, please do drive with extreme caution; the airport (Ataturk International) is in a busy part of the city and as I mention in the article, driving here is not for the faint-hearted in fact, it is downright dangerous!
If you are thinking of visiting Gallipoli and have any questions please e-mail me: iainidc@battlefieldseurope.co.uk |
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