Sometimes it feels like I'm sitting here in a little hole, shouting out of it to a huge auditorium – an auditorium that may be completely empty for all I can tell.
No matter, here I am and I'm going to have a shout.
Yes, I'm going to Gallipoli. Being a methodical bloke, I have assembled a lump of information about what I might find there. I thought some few of you might find it informative, or at least mildly entertaining.
First of all, it's important to remember that I'm just an ordinary chap. I don't have a crystal ball.
Take the weather. Based on past years, the night of the 24th will probably be very cold and clear. There will be dew but probably not frost. By contrast the days of the 24th and 25th will probably be warm and sunny, even a little sticky. However, anything can happen. There is no guarantee that the event will not be totally rained out. Be prepared. As a minimum take gloves and scarf and warm jacket, plus a rain slick. A 2x2 metre square of heavy plastic makes a handy ground sheet or rain hood, and it's so cheap that you can just discard it afterwards. A sleeping bag is best of all, if you can carry it.
But let's take a step back. A big step, to Istanbul.
Istanbul
Most attendees try to arrive at almost the last minute, but they book their tours and hotels well ahead. Quality budget accommodation will be snapped up months in advance. However, Istanbul has a vast capacity. If your standards are not too rigorous you will be able to find a place to stay even if you arrive only a day before and have nothing booked.
Unless you have a lift or a hire car arranged, don't expect to get to Gallipoli at the last minute under your own steam without a big hassle. The 25th is a national day for the Turks, too, and the regular bus services are packed. There won't be any vacant rooms when you get to Canakkale. Fortunately, in Istanbul you will probably be able to find a tour willing to take you to Gallipoli even if you arrive on the morning of the 24th, so you won't need a room. To find a tour, get out early (before 6 AM), follow the crowds, and be prepared to pay for the privilege of getting a last-minute seat on a tour.
Shopping and what to bring.
There are some bookshops with a good selection of guide books in Divan Yolu near the Hippodrome.
There will be plenty of cheap cold weather gear for sale – try near the Hippodrome.
Plastic sheeting (for a groundsheet or makeshift rain hood) can be acquired cheaply at shops across from the Spice Market.
There are food shops around the Hippodrome and the Spice Market where you can stock up on munchies for the long cold night.
Your bus will probably stop somewhere for a last minute opportunity to buy food. If your supplies are short, take the opportunity, even if the tour promises you a packed lunch, as the tour-supplied food is unlikely to be copious. There are no shops near the Commemorative Site. There may be a few food stalls not far away by day, and a whole lot of stalls up by Lone Pine, but you risk Turkish Tum if you buy unpackaged food from them. Assume that you'll need to carry at least dinner and breakfast in with you.
Bring a couple of litres of water – in sealed bottles, as during the bag searches the security guards may confiscate doubtful containers in case they hold alcohol. Be prepared to open them if asked. If you do try to smuggle alcohol in, you will probably succeed as long as you don't have it on your breath. If you get caught, the worst that will happen is that the booze will be confiscated. There is water available on site but as with eating the food, you take a risk drinking it. Packing a thermos full of tea or coffee is a good idea.
Be aware that you will probably have to carry all your plunder for up to 24 hours and that only day packs are allowed, so be selective about what you bring. Warm clothes and wet weather gear, blanket or sleeping bag, food and drink, perhaps an inflatable cushion. Camera, torch and spare batteries for same. A light book, perhaps one about the Gallipoli Landings. Sunscreen and sunglasses. A small supply of toilet paper is wise.
When you get to Gallipoli
Assuming you're on a tour, most buses take the highway down the western side of the Sea of Marmara. You will probably be taken on a battlefield tour and then back to Eceabat or Canakkale for dinner.
Later when you arrive for the main event, your bus will be stopped well short of the site. If you arrive after 6pm you will approach from the north, not the south (which is kept clear for VIPs and emergency crews) and you may have a half hour walk in front of you. The walk is downhill.
The site begins to fill up in the early afternoon. First in best seated. There will be plenty of room at first, so if you arrive early you will be able to spread yourself out and have a picnic. By sunset (around 8pm) it will be getting crowded, and by midnight you will probably be standing. Half the attendees will be Turks. They'll be noisy and may be drunk, but also good-humoured.
You may get lucky and get a seat on the scaffolds, but more likely you'll be down on the grass. The seating is for veterans, their families, and lesser VIPs.
Try to befriend some of the people from your bus, and form a co-operative little colony with them. They will keep your place and watch your gear when you go to the toilets or take a walk to stretch your legs, and you can return the favour. (The toilets are mostly villages of porta-a-loos, set up outside the main entrances to the site. By midnight most of them will be clogged with toilet paper and will be absolutely disgusting, despite the efforts of the overworked cleaners.)
The Commemorative Site is brilliantly illuminated all night by huge lights on metal towers.
The long night
Remember that in 1915 there was no daylight saving. All the times recorded in your history books will be an hour out by today's clocks.
The moon will rise, 85% full and waxing, just after 3:30pm on the 24th. It will reach its zenith just before 10pm, so if the skies are clear there will be plenty of light even away from the main site. It will set about 4:15am. In 1915 the moon rose just after 1pm (now 2pm) and set at 3am (now 4am) and was about 75% full.
2010 is special because the moon phases and times are so close to what they were in 1915. The last time they were this close (in fact almost a perfect match with 1915) was in 1999. The next time they will be closer will be in 2018.
Around 4:30am you may notice a lit-up naval ship sailing up and down offshore. The British ships dropped anchor at 3:30am in 1915, which is now 4:30am due to daylight saving time. Presumably they hoped to slip in during the dark after the moon set.
Around 4am in 1915 (now 5am) the landing boats cast loose their tows and began rowing in to the shore.
At 4:30am in 1915 (now 5:30am) the troops surged ashore, which is why the Dawn Service begins at 5:30am, usually with a minute's darkness.
The Dawn Service ends around 6:15am. Sunrise on the 25th will be about 6:20am.
After the Dawn Service, people will head away south to climb up to Lone Pine by way of Ari Burnu, Anzac Cove, Shrapnel Valley and Shell Green Cemeteries. There's no rush about this – the Australian service at Lone Pine is not scheduled until 10:30, so you have over 4 hours in which to cover just 2.5 kilometres, albeit mostly uphill, and to poke around other places such as Johnson's Jolly. A walk along Anzac Cove is worth the effort, although tonnes of dirt have been bulldozed onto the beach by road-widening. Once around the southern headland you will find places where you can climb up to the road.
As mentioned, there will be small stalls near Lone Pine selling overpriced food and drink and souvenirs. Choose carefully if you decide to patronise them. Some of the food they are selling will be left-overs from yesterday that may already have spent hours in the heat.
If you decide to see both the Australian and New Zealand services – and you might as well, as your bus probably won't be leaving until mid-afternoon – you have over an hour after the Australian service to climb up to Chunuk Bair for the 12:30pm New Zealand service. It's 3.3 kilometres uphill so it may take you most of that time and you won't have much time for sightseeing. If you skip the Australian service, you can spend more time walking up to Chunuk Bair and do some exploring along the way; or if you skip the New Zealand Service, again you can take your time walking up. However, there is a Turkish service in the middle that means you'll be tripping over Turks all the way – just as the troopers did 95 years ago. They will be loud and expressive, just as they were then, too. Fortunately the modern Turks are friendly and won't be carrying guns, just flags.
Your bus will probably be on the far side of Chunuk Bair, where a long road winds down through the hills. Buses will be parked nose to tail for several kilometres. Good luck finding yours!
The congestion is such that most buses headed south will be queued up in Eceabat for hours waiting for a place on a ferry across to Canakkale. If your bus leaves Chunuk Bair at, say 4pm you will be lucky to reach Canakkale by 7:30pm. You can walk to Eceabat in that time.
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