ANZAC Day at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli

Hi Guys, Ham here with my final update of the trip.

Well, yesterday was the big day. After visiting the ancient city of Troy in the morning, we crossed back into the European side of Turkey to drive down the Gallipoli peninsula for the dawn service. We arrived at Anzac Cove at around 6pm on the 24th. We very fairly early (bus 88 out of more than 400) and this meant we could get great seats in the grandstand. It was a very long and cold night, but they had many interesting movies playing, and the bands and singers were good too. 

At 5:30am the service began. Prince Charles laid a wreath as so did Tony Abbott and the New Zealand Prime Minister. After the dawn service we had to wait a while for the crowds to clear before we began our walk to Lone Pine for the Australian service. It was about 3.5km, mostly uphill. The narrow path, and the huge crowd, made it a slow haul (2.5 hours!)

At Lone Pine, I waved to Prince Charles and Prince Harry as they arrived, and they waved back to me which was cool. I was also on the big screen TV, staying my career as a TV comedy man.

Once the Lone Prine service finished around noon, we had to wait until 5pm to get on our bus and head back to Istanbul. After stopping for dinner, we final got back to our hotel around 11pm - 40 hours since my last proper sleep! I was so tired.......

This is me in front of the Torjan Horse at Troy. You could climb up inside it, but it was really crowded, so I only climbed up half way.

This is Dad and me on the ferry crossing the Dardanelles heading towards Anzac Cove

This is me at Gallipoli with the Anzac medal awarded to my great great grandfather R. W. Kirkwood in 1915.

I was really tired so I had a quick nap before be walked to Anzac Cove

This photo gives you an idea of the crowd (more than 10,000 people)

This is the monument at Lone Pine.  It is in the middle of a cemetery for Australian soldiers who died during the battle.

This is the queue of buses waiting to collect people after the service finished - it was massive and took ages!

I feel like I am lucky that I did not go to war. I feel like I was on the bus all day( and I was, not complaining!😅). 

Tomorrow I come to home sweet home. I am all looking forward to seeing you all.

 Thank you for following the blog. HAM OUT ( for good😭.) 

Carpet weaving and Pergamon

Hey Guys, Ham here,

Yesterday we went to a carpet weaving place where we learned about how the carpets are made and the different types of carpets and prices. The Turkish tradition is to offer visitors a drink and I had a cold apple tea and my dad had a Turkish coffee.

After we travelled 200km to Pergamon, which is an ancient city built on top of a hill. We were able to catch a cable car to the top which was really cool.

These photos show the ruins of Pergamon. It was really windy and cold, but it was interesting.

Today we are travelling by bus to Troy, then we will cross the Dardanelles by ferry to the Galipolli peninsular to begin the final trip to Anzac cove where we will sleep outside overnight until the dawn service tomorrow.

Ham out.

Pamukkale thermal springs, Hierapolis, Ephesus and Kusadasi

Hi Guys, Ham here again.

After a long day of bus travel from Istanbul, we stayed at an awesome hotel called the Pamukkale Thermal Speings hotel.  It had....  Doctor fish and it is when the fish eat the dead skin of your feet.

This is the place I stayed in and it had a hot and salty water coming from the ground.

I had the "Dr Fish" treatment where the fish eat the dead skin off your feet - very ticklish!

This the travatine that was cold to walk on and you had to take your shoes off to protect the surface.

These photos show the ruins of the city of Hierapolis, which was a Roman city of 150,000 people built over 2000 years ago.

This is the ruins of the library at Ephesus. Ephesus was originally built around 6000 years ago - amazing right?

This is the antik theatre @ Ephesus. You could not climb to the top, but even from half way up it was very steep.

Second day of sightseeing in Istanbul

Hi Guys, Ham here. 

Yesterday was a busy day of sightseeing. First, we went to the famous Blue Mosque, then to the Hippodome where they used to race chariots in the olden days, then on to the Basilica Cistern, which is an old underground water storage. In the afternoon, we went on a cruise on the Bosphorus which was awesome, then to the Grand Bazzar. Finally, our whole tour group went out for dinner to a traditional Turkish restaurant.

This is the Blue Mosque. It was built about 200 years ago. It was supposed to be taller than the much older Hagia Sophia, but it wasn't possible, so the Sultan's architect added extra minaret towers to make it look talker.

 

This is one piece of stone that was taken by the Ottomans from Egypt to Istanbul to show the world that they ruled over Egypt. It sits in the Hippodome which is a open area that was used for sport like chariot races. 

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These 2 photos are from the the underground cistern. Slaves made the cistern and were later killed so the slaves could not tell anyone where the cistern was. They were worried that someone would try to poison the town's water supply.

These photos are from the Topkapi Palace, which was the main home of the Sultan.  The Crown Jewels were there, and they looked ( and probably were) very valuable. We were could not take photos in this spot.

There were guys on the roof for an unknown reason ( crazy right?).

After lunch we went on a boat cruise for a couple of hours on the Bosphorus, which is that water the separates Europe and Asia. This is a Summer palace for the Sultan. The Sultan has a lot more. 

Today were are travelling 650km from Istanbul to Pamukkale, so no updates until tomorrow.

Ham out

First day in Istanbul

Hi Guys - Ham here,

Today, my dad and I went on a bus tour around old Instanbul. We went to the 2000 year old Hagia Sophia museum and I also went to Suleymaniye mosque and the Egyptian Spice Market. 

The Hagia Sophia museum, was built as a church around 2000 years ago, converted to a mosque by the Ottomans, and is now a museum.

This is the Muslim equilivent of a pulpit inside the Hagia Sophia. It faces Mecca.

 

 This is the Suleymaniye mosque. Inside, the lights are low to the ground so you can read the prayer book

A big day of travel

Hi guys,

I am boarding the plane to Turkey and I have been on the plane to Doha. And I am really tired I do not have the time to talk so.... HAM OUT

This is me in the Qantas lounge in Melbourne waiting for the flight to Doha.

This was me waiting (again) in the lounge in Doha to board the flight to Turkey 

Packing to go!

Hi guys, Ham here!

You all know I am going to Turkey with my Dad to go to the 2015 ANZAC Day Dawn Service. It will be 100 years since WW1 Australian soldiers landed at Gallipoli.

We fly out in 2 days and I still have a few things to do...

- pack clothes

- pack iPad

- pack thermals, warm coat and beanie for staying overnight in Gallipoli.

- Tickets for the Dawn Service.

- get homework from Miss Frankas (hahahahahahah! Just joking :)

To get ready to go to the ANZAC service I have been reading my great, great great grandfather, Private James Isaac Larsen's war diary. He fought at Gallipoli and got wounded but survived.

We are also going to take my great, great grandfather (R.W.Kirkwood)'s commemorative ANZAC medal that was given to the men who went to Gallipoli  in 1915. And it recognises " the great debt owed by all Australians".

Ham out