A proper exploration of Turkey is going to have to wait for for another trip, but the reason I quickly visited on this one was to attend the Dawn Service on the Gallipoli Peninsular on Anzac Day (the 25th April).
 |
| About 5:30 am on the 25th April |
Next day I spent some time traveling around the peninsular seeing a number of the other memorial sights and also appreciating the ruggedness of the territory - the weather deteriorated to cold rain squalls during the day and they gave you a small appreciation of how rugged the conditions must have been in the area during the campaign.
 |
| Lone Pine Cemetery- the major Australian commemorative site. |
 |
| A soldier from Singleton (a few kilometres from where I now live) |
 |
| View from Second Ridge showing the maximum extent of the territory captured for the loss of nearly 10,000 Anzac and 20,000 Turks (and other sites north and south had equally horrific figures for British and Turkish losses) |
 |
| My bike being guarded during my absence viewing the memorials |
A small, but important moment in the bikes life happened whilst I was at Gallipoli.
 |
| A row of zeroes - passing the 200,000 km mark (150,000 under my ownership and about half of those since it left Australia) |
From Turkey I've headed towards Bulgaria. My last stop before I left the country was the town of Edirne which I chose for its convenient location close to the border rather than any great expectations of sights. I was very pleasantly surprised, it turned out to be one of those little known gems, a former capital of the Ottoman Empire in the 14 and 15 centuries (hope I remember correctly) the centre was full of old houses, mosques, ruins an overall a lovely feeling of peace and tranquility.
 |
| Selimyi Mosque - built 1470, and as magnificent as any of the European cathedrals of the same era. |
The crossing into Bulgaria marked and entry into the EU and was quick and uneventful (unlike for these truck drivers).
 |
| Nearly 3 kilometre tail back of trucks waiting to cross |
On arrival in Bulgaria I headed immediately to a motorcyclist orientated camp I knew of, partly to pick up some parts to do some maintenance (thanks Jack for sending these) but in truth mainly just enjoying relaxing with fellow travelers, swapping yarns and drinking a few beers. Today I intend to hit the road north again (but I did say that yesterday as well).
 |
| To my surprise the village has a strong British ex-pat community - you can apparently buy a "renovator" for a few thousand pounds or something liveable for two or three times that. |
No comments:
Post a Comment