Returning from Cappadocia we arrived at Sabiha Gokcen Airport which is on the Asian side and decided to spend one more night in Istanbul before hitting the road en route to Gallipoli.

We picked up a car from the airport which was probably our most peculiar car hire to date. A man met us with the car, took down some details, drove us to the service station to get petrol and then when back on the highway he asked us to pull over so he could get out. The plan was to meet him at Ataturk Airport in 3 days time – we took off and just hoped.

So with our car we drove into Kadikoy which is a rather happening town situated by the water. We didn’t spend a large amount of time there but found ourselves a really nice hotel for the evening and prepared our travel journey to Gallipoli.

The drive from Istanbul is supposed to take about 5 hours however that must be at 3am in the morning as we left around 4pm and it took us 7 long hours to reach the small town of Gelibolu. A quick overnight stay here and we were back on the road the following morning headed for Anzac Cove.

The small port of Gelibolu...

All in all we probably spent 5 hours wandering through the various grave sites. We would highly recommend taking your own car as that way you aren’t put on time restraints which seemed to be the case for the large bus loads that came through. It also meant that we had Anzac Cove all to ourselves.

Anzac Cove

The inscriptions on these gravesites were heartbreaking...

Lone Pine

Pete in the Trenches...

This place is truly a must see for any Australian or New Zealander visiting Turkey.

~~~

Leaving Gallipoli we made our way to Çanakkale for the night. From here we could make our way back to Istanbul via Troy the next day.

Çanakkale is a nice place to wander around. There are some lovely cafe’s and restaurants along the water near the Ferry port so we enjoyed lunch in the sunshine.

Waterfront Lunch...

The Clock Tower of Çanakkale

We were actually lucky to find any accommodation as apparently there was a huge Romanian convention in town the weekend we were there so hotel rooms were scarce. We sorted that one out just as we stumbled across a barber, so a good time for Pete to get a little grooming.

No English and No Turkish so lets hope he understands 'short back and sides and a little funky'...

Lathering up...

Keeping very still...

This is some pamper session...

TaDa! For a total cost of $9AUD a man in Turkey gets a haircut and rather interesting style, a shave and massage...

Strike a pose...

~~~

We heard many conflicting reviews about visiting the Ancient City, Troy. Most were people telling us it wasn’t worth it but we had the time so we went, we saw and we would have to agree that it really isn’t a very enthralling site to see.

The iconic Trojan horse of Troy...

Troy Ruins...

Trying to remain enthusiastic at Troy...

Troy Arena....

We understand the incredible history that lies behind this site but the way in which it is presented to tourists is quite poor. Tickets to enter are $9.50AUD and you can probably get through the entire site in about 2 hours – that’s if you are want to take the time reading and slowly wandering through the grounds.

Returning to Ataturk International Airport that night, our strange car hire situation worked out extremely well and some random guy was there to collect the car. We then boarded a flight to China. Asia now the final continent to visit in our Round the World Trip.

For all of our photos inTurkey, please see our gallery.

[Show as slideshow]

1234►