For our 2016 Tour de Europe trip we intended to drive into Turkey from Greece, visit Gallipoli and Istanbul, then drive on into Bulgaria. Driving in Turkey is no different than driving elsewhere in Europe. The main problem is horse drawn farm vehicles on the road at night (generally with no lighting). The crossing point from Greece into Turkey is at Ipsala, not far from the Greek town of Alexandropoulos. You’ll need your passport, the vehicles ‘green card’ (European Insurance Card), registration papers and a copy of the eVisa that you obtained. The eVisa is obtained online from the Turkish Government and costs 20 euro per person (note there are scam sites set up to mimic the real one – go to the Turkish embassy website and follow the links from there). The actual process of getting through the border is no big deal, with friendly guards and even a big duty-free shop. The only thing to remember is that it is a de-militarised zone (about 4 or 5 kms wide) and you should not get out of the car except in designated areas.
Once you’re over the border, you’ll notice one thing: a line-up of trucks about 15 kms long waiting to get through to Greece (a process that can take 2-3 days). This is due to the fact that the area around the Sea of Marmara is a huge manufacturing zone with most of its output going to the EU. The world’s largest border crossing is at El Kapitan on the border between Turkey and Bulgaria. There are 35 lanes for checking trucks and 12 lanes for private vehicles and there is still a 3 day wait for truck drivers.
The main roads in Turkey are in reasonable shape (at least in the western part). Our trip was taking us to Gallipoli, so we turned off the E70 at Kesan and followed the E87/D550 towards Eceabat/Cannakale. The last part of the trip was a ferry across the Dardanelles from Eceabat to Cannakale. The ferry costs about 10TL and there are four in constant crossings. If you miss one it’s only about a 15 minute wait to get on the next one. As you stand on the quay at Eceabat, you can see up on a hill to the south, the fort of Killitbahir which, together with 11 other forts and extensive minefields, proved impossible for the British Navy to subdue in 1915 and indirectly caused the British commander to go to plan B – an invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula.
The ferry deposits you directly into the centre of Cannakale. The first roundabout is police controlled and can be a bit of a nightmare. Once through that we headed to our base at the Akol hotel. The hotel is a 4 star and the best in Cannakale itself as well as only 400 metres from the centre of town. It has friendly staff and a good seafood rooftop restaurant on site, which has a great view over the Dardanalles. For your first night in Turkey, you’ll soon realise that in the majority of restaurants, the menu choices are Turkish or……..Turkish. It isn’t that Turkish food is not tasty, far from it, but those of us sometimes wishing for good Chinese, times are tough. There are however, lots of good Turkish restaurants in Cannakale. The Akol is on the esplanade and your walk into town takes you past the reproduction Trojan horse and a lot of restaurants. Once you get to the centre, there are even more cafes and restaurants to choose from. An interesting observation is that the majority of tourists are Turkish. I had assumed that given the history of the Gallipoli peninsula, that there would be a far proportion of Aussies, but not one Aussie accent was heard (late June).
Cannakale is a good place to stay for a few days. The town itself has a naval museum dedicated to the Gallipoli campaign. It also has a number of museums and the Trojan horse (a gift from the producers of the film Troy). The real Troy is about 60 kms to the south of Cannakale along E87. Here you can see another Trojan horse and the excavated site of Troy. Troy was found by the German archaeologist Herman Schliemann in 1896, but his initial excavations caused a bit of damage to the ruins. Today, excavations are ongoing under the control of the Turkish government.
The other reason to go to Gallipoli is, of course, the battlefields. Gallipoli peninsula is barren, windswept and boiling hot in summer (and correspondingly cold in winter). The battlefields are also surprisingly small.
The Australian and Turkish governments have gone to great lengths to make the Battlefields an attractive proposition for tourists.
The best way to see the area is with a guide or guided tour. The company we used was called Hassle Free tours. They have an office at Anzac House in Istanbul Kaddessi right near the main roundabout. Cost is about 60 TL per person. Our tour guide (whose name escapes me at the moment) was a history teacher at the local school and was extremely knowledgeable about the area and its history. The tour started with a boat trip across the straights followed by a light lunch. We then boarded a luxury minibus for our tour. We first went to the new museum at the entrance to the national park (the southern part of the peninsula is a National Park). After the museum, the minibus took us to all the relevant sites, such as Lone Pine (only the size of a soccer pitch and over 4000 deaths), Anzac Cove, Shrapnel gully etc. Its hard not to be there and not be amazed by the steepness of the landscape and the smallness of the battlefields. The tour takes about 5 hours and its worth taking water and sun protection.
After leaving the park, we headed back to the Akol and our last night in Cannakale.