Today we visited a few sites connected to the Gallipoli campaign, especially the associated landing sites of the British and ANZAC (Australian & New Zealand Army Corps) forces. Gallipoli is well known in Australia and New Zealand for the failed attempt to land forces within Turkey during WW1, costing thousands of lives to all involved. Before we visited the site the girls watched a short video detailing the main points of the campaign. The YouTube video can be viewed here. This was an excellent opportunity for the girls to learn some of the history of WW1 whilst also visiting the sites involved.

We started the day with a visit to the Canakkale Martyrs Monument. Not surprisingly this was the main and top attraction on the peninsula and was extremely busy with Turkish tourists and school groups. This was an impressive site with a wide range of memorials remembering the Turkish involvement; a giant Turkish flag over the site was extremely impressive.

Our next stop on our whistle-stop tour was the British memorial. This memorial was located adjacent to the main British landing site of Cape Helles. Slightly disappointedly we were the only visitors and a far cry from the busy Turkish monument only a few miles down the road. Nevertheless it was an interesting monument and the view of the passing tankers was pretty impressive. Adjacent to the site was an old Ottomen fort, which was destroyed in the initial landings, a few pillbox’s suggested that British forces used this area as a stronghold through the campaign.

By this point the girls were flagging and dreaming of more fun times with ice cream and cakes, but we continued on, this time to the main ANZAC landing zone. Anybody who has visited Australia or New Zealand and celebrated ANZAC day knows the importance of the site; their history has been defined by this small strip of land. 

We travelled from the British memorial past several well maintained grave sites for the British forces, all were very quiet and free from visitors. We managed to stop and pay our respects at a few of the sites including Cwcg Pink Farm and Arı Burnu Cemetery. The latter was located in a lovely site close looking over the Aegean sea.

Anzac, similar to the British memorial, was also virtually free from tourists, which was more surprising as I believed this was a major site to visit for our Southern friends. Maybe we missed the tours of possible it was out of season? Anyway this was a lovely cove but other than a fairly new memorial there was not much to see other than an interesting plaque that the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand opened in 2000 (I clearly remember the news story at the time). In the distance you could see some pill boxes that would have been interesting to visit, but demanding girls for ice-cream quickly ended this aspiration.