Friday – Canakkale
There was always a good chance, after the previous non-stop two days in Istanbul, that Canakkale would turn out to be a bit of an anti-climax. We arrived early, for starters – I rather get the feeling that most people would have appreciated a bit of a lie-in, and a sea-day wouldn’t have gone amiss at this point – it has, after all, been a pretty full-on, constant string of port days since our arrival in The Black Sea six days ago, and many people are starting to flag a bit.
We had no plans to speak of; there were a couple of places we’d like to have seen but logistics and timing rather scuppered us. The port, where we landed, was six miles away from the town of Canakkale, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. There were no hordes of taxi drivers to greet and hassle us when we got off the ship, and the only chance of seeing anything, unless you’d booked a tour (which we hadn’t) was to take the shuttle bus (£5 per person) to the town. Once in town, there wasn’t a great deal to see or do, either. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not an unattractive place, but it was a little on the sleepy side when we arrived, so we did what most other people who had taken the shuttle bus did, and walked along the length of the promenade.
For myself, at least, the seafront provided me with the highlight of the day; for here is situated a large wooden horse of Troy. It isn’t just any old wooden horse, though; it’s the actual Trojan Horse, as built for, and used in, the 2004 film ‘Troy’, starring Brad Pitt. So I was happy; I love the film, and was delighted to be able to stand next to such a magnificent movie prop. I would like to have seen the remains of the ancient city of Troy itself; there was a tour there, but we’d rather overlooked it in our planning, and after asking how much it would cost us to take an independent trip there by taxi (approximately 25 miles away), we realised, sadly, that it was going to be far too expensive… next time, maybe…
So, we spent the day pottering; after our manic two days, if I’m honest, it was quite nice to take things at a slow pace for a change. At the opposite end of the promenade, we sat and had a drink in the cafe there, and watched the traffic go by on the Dardenelles Strait. We saw endless ships go past, including a rather impressive sailing yacht, and watched huge fish jumping out of the water, as if they were mocking the fisherman that was trying to catch them a little further down.
Local currency continued to be a bit of an issue, once we’d returned to the town. In Turkey, loos aren’t free – it’s 1 Turkish Lira to make use of the facilities; if one needs to visit the loo often, it could get a bit expensive. Finding a restaurant that would take our Euros proved an impossible task, too, and we ended up paying by card for lunch in a little restaurant there. The only other thing that was down on the map as a place to visit was a fort, which is also a Naval museum. Again, they wouldn’t accept euros, so we ended up taking cash out of an ATM machine in order to visit it.
A large park-like area housed many wartime artifacts; anti-aircraft guns, cannons, bits of submarines, torpedos, mines – you name it, it was strewn about the grounds, with accompanying plaques telling you what they were and where they’d come from. At the opposite end of the park was a fort, which housed an exhibition of weaponry and assorted displays. The fort and its grounds was actually quite impressive; frustratingly, though, much of it was closed off to us, so the experience of wandering about it wasn’t quite as satisfying as it felt it could have been. Finally, our ticket gave us entrance to a mine ship moored alongside the quayside. Inside, it had been restored brilliantly, and a guide, who didn’t speak any english, led the way through the various quarters, the galley and wardrooms… all quite interesting – this was accompanied by a short animated display of a particular incident in the Dardanelles, when the Turkish Navy held off a fleet of marauding enemy ships (British, I think)… clearly something they’re very proud of.
Our visit to the Naval museum and fort passed a reasonably enjoyable, and mostly relaxed, hour or so, until it was time to head back to the shuttle bus to take us back to the ship. A few people on board the bus had clearly spent much of their time drinking and were quite tipsy, loud and giggling stupidly at ridiculous things… ah well – whatever gets one through the day.
Back at the port, many passengers were just returning from their excursions to Troy – full of how thrilling, and brilliant, the tour had been…. grrrrr… next time, maybe.
At 5pm, we left Turkey for the last time, heading towards Iraklion, on the Greek Isle of Crete. We have a sea-day tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll get a bit of a lie-in. It’s back to work, though, with the next of my workshops….
