Turkey: Day 8, Saturday 26th April

Outside the Grand Bazar - meeting Mayank, on the way to the Museum The Archeological Museum

The skeleton - check it out, you can still see the organs The Island

Us at dinner, the man and women are Turksih friends of Mayanks Fish on fire at the table

Removing the salt shell Bosphorous Bridge by night We awoke just in time to catch breakfast this morning - again at our luxurious hotel! We then went to the archaeological museum - it was raining today, so quite a good day for it! We saw a skeleton and all his organs where all shrivelled up. We learnt about Byzantine architecture - how it took on it's own form with a Christian theme, different from the ancient world art and we learnt about the Ottoman empire. Some of the artifacts where from the 4th century BC and you could touch them (not supposed to though) and these where not bowls etc but big massive chambers, statues etc. For dinner we met up with Mayanks friend again and went to Istanbul's best restaurant, it is an Island about 1/2km from the mainland. It is called Galatasaray Island, owned by the Galatasaray football team (i think this is how it's spelt, not too sure). Whilst we where there, the coach came and the camera crew where filming him. We had beautiful food, it is a fish restaurant, so we had some type of Mediterranean fish. Whilst we where there, a big group of people ordered this fish that is baked in a salk shell, brought the the table, set on fire then the salt is chipped off - Ive never seen anything like it. The restaurant had a good view of the Bosphourous bridge - it gets lit up at night. A nice end to a long holiday, tomorrow morning we head home on the 9am flight.

Friday 25th April ANZAC Day

Everybody leaving from the NZ site and trying to find their bus. A trench New Zealand Monument and Reefs

New Zealand Ceremony, reefs and Chunk Bair Turkish Ceremony

After the Dawn Service at ANZAC Cove, the podium and the reefs

Cemataries along the walk to Chunk Bair The photos below are of the Dawn Service at ANZAC Cove

At 5am the introduction started with a piece of music composed just for the event as names and dates of soldiers who died went accross the screens, we observed a minutes silence, then the service started. It was hosted by Judy Bailey. We had a speach via video from Oz, NZ and Turkish pri ministers. Winston Peters spoke as did someone from OZ and Turkey. The service was a great experience. We then walked the 2-3km to Lone Pine, and left our Australian friends there, then continued on for another 3.3km to Chunk Bair for the NZ service. On the way we passed the beginning of he Turkish ceremoney and walked past Ari Bruni Beach, Shrapnel Valley and Cell Green cemetaries. We waited on the dusty ground in our sleeping bag and got an hours sleep before the service started. This was again led by Judy Bailey and Winston Peters spoke, each country laid a wreath. This service started at 12.30 and was finished by 1.15pm. By 2.30pm we were back on the bus headed on our 5 hour ride back to Istanbul. Needless to say we slept most of the way back home. We had a shower, then headed out the the Fish Market in Beyoglu for dinner. We where more than ready for bed by 1am.

Turkey: Day 6, Thursday 24th April

We (Us, Mayank, Larissa and Steve) headed off on the bus for our 5 hour ride to Gallipoli. When we arrived it was packed and all the grass areas where taken (as you can sleep on those) so we got ourselves a chair (much like you find in a stadium). When we arrived it was nice and warm, but as the evening drew on it got colder and colder, we decided it wouldn't be cold enough to take a sleeping bag each so we just shared one and boy where we cold - huddled together with poncho's on to keep the wind out. We had no sleep and spent the night sitting about waiting for dawn - too afraid to to even have a hot cup of tea because that would mean a long walk in the cold to the portoloo! Throughout the night they had music and clips about Gallipoli and we where all given information about it, so it was really quite a moving night. Despite feeling almost delerious by the time the service started and struggling to keep awake for the 1 minutes silence. Did you know that 51% of NZ soilders died in Gallipoli - mind boggling really!

Turkey: Day 5, Wednesday 23rd April

The Turkish dinner in the Cistern

Tokapai Palace, particularly pictures of the Harem, as it will hopefully give an idea to the detail that is in the mosaics everywhere. The University We checked out of our luxurious hotel this morning and checked into another great beauty as we are with our ANZAC tour tonight. We spent most of the day looking around Tokapi Palace. The palace was first built in 1453 and each subsequent sultan kept adding onto it. Mahmut II was the last sultan to live in the palace and in the 19th Century decided to move into more modern places, one of them being the Dolmabache Palace. First we looked in the Harem, a place where the sultan could engaged in debauchery at will. Muratt III had 112 children due to this!!!! The word Harem just means private. All the women in the Harem were foreigners as Islam forbade the enslaving of Muslims, Christians or Jews. As well as the Harem, we looked around the palace and saw the Treasury - most interesting. It contained an 86 carrot diamond ring - protected not only by glass, but also an armed guard. In the religious relics we saw the skull and arm of John the Baptist, we saw the staff Moses used, the carved door and guttering from the Kaaba in Mecca. We even saw some pieces of Mohammed's beard and his footprint in clay! In the evening we met up with the tour and went out for a Traditional Turkish meal, in another cistern. The setting was beautiful, but the food left a lot to be desired, as did the bored performers, the belly dancer who looked more like a pawn show as she kept wanting men to put money in her bra and then to top it all off we saw a male belly dancer - a very interesting evening. But wait there's more, for this wonder full pleasure and meal of chicken, frozen chips, frozen mixed vege's and some brown apple we paid £33 pp!!!! We return to our wonderful room which is filled with smoke from the last people, has no air conditioning and is so hot we leave the door open for a long as possible with the draft from the fire escape door blowing in. Oh and did i forget that we had a double bed with a single sheet and when we asked for another sheet they came up with another pillow! Once again we regret being part of a tour - but tomorrow is Gallipoli and that is what we are here for.

Turkey: Day 4, Tuesday 22nd April

A Blackberry moment at the Turkish restuarant

Cistern Basilica The city walls that used to surround the old city of Istanbul (Sultanhament) Pictures in Guhane Park The boys on Atiturks Knee!

All the pictures below are from the Hippodrome The Fountain of Kaiser Wilhelms

Rough Stone Obelisk

Obelisk of Theodosius

Inside the Blue Mosque Kissing by the Tulip in the gardens

These pictures are all of the outside of the Blue Mosque This is the courtyard to the mosque, behind me is a fountain for washing before prayer. Aya Sofya - above is an example of one of the Mosaics, this one was above the alter that is pictured below. This morning we met up with Steve and Larissa and Mayank and went around the sight sin Sultanahment (Old Istanbul), it is a designated world heritage sight now. We started with the Aya Sofya. The Aya Sofya was built 522 - 565 as part of restoring the Roman Empire. In the conquest in 1453 Melmet converted it into a mosque, as Christianity was being removed from Turkey. In 1935 Ataturk made it into a museum and some of the christian mosaics can be seen once again. We then went around the Blue Mosque (called such due to the blue mosaics inside). It was build to surpass the Aya Sofya and to be the biggest of all Ottoman Mosques. Behind the Blue Mosque is the Hippodrome, this was the centre of life in both Byzantine an Ottoman eras, for all events. At one end it contains the Kaiser Wilhelms Fountain 1901. It also has the 'Obelisk of Theodosius', this was carved in Egypt in 1450BC. The Byzantine emperor Theodosius brought it to Constantinople (is now Istanbul) in AD390. The 'Rough Stone Obelisk' used to have bronze plates, but these where ripped off in the 3rd Crusade. After a nice lunch we walked through Guhane Park and around the waterfront, it was pretty hazy today. After an afternoon beer we went to the Cistern Basilicia, it was built in AD 532, it's 63m wide, 143m long and the roof is supported by 336 columns. it once held 80 000 cubis meters of water. It was used to supply water to the palace during Byzantine times but was used as a dumping ground during the Ottoman period. It has been restored numerous times since. We had some great pastries afterwords and ate at a 'Traditional Turkish' restaurant.