The Pilgrimage - Anzac Day
Those travelling overseas for the first time often will be fulfilling a life long dream. When we leave the shores of our homeland we tend to turn into some form of new age pilgrim. We decide that there are things we must do and that to return home without having done these things just wouldn’t be right.

I had a huge list of must do’s and must-sees. The list just keeps getting longer. For every event you cross off your must do’s, you think of or are told of 3 others. For every sight that you cross off your must sees you read or are told of 6 more.

One of my must do’s was to visit Gallipoli in Turkey on April 25th. Australians and New Zealanders will know already of the significance of this pilgrimage. ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) Day is celebrated with great significance all over Australia and New Zealand every year. It is our equivalent to Remembrance Day, and Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, Turkey, is significant.

I’d never had an interest in war, although having grown up in Australia, I had become indoctrinated with the history and legend of Anzac. I was aware of the sacrifices, of the tremendous loss of life. I was aware, that this was the place where legend was born in 1915.

I’d worked this little pilgrimage into a trip around Turkey, which had begun in Istanbul about a week earlier. I was travelling with another Australian guy and a couple from New Zealand.

Virtually from the time we arrived in Turkey we struck groups of Aussies and Kiwis, all headed eventually to Anzac Bay, Gallipoli for the big day.

My little group were different from most of those we came across, we had hired a car in order that we might explore Turkey at our leisure. A word of warning though, the Turks are absolutely mad on the road. If you are not a confident driver, don’t even contemplate hiring a car and driving in Turkey.

Turkey is a fairly daunting place to be exploring on your own. Even with four of us, we were nearly mugged on the road side, were the victims of a road rage pursuit, and were subject to minor physical and not so minor verbal assaults. Women should be particularly wary, not to wear shorts or short skirts in the rural areas of Turkey. The young lady who joined us on our tour found how unusual this was when the entire population of a local primary school ran to the fence to look at her in her shorts.

The vast majority of those we met in and around Gallipoli were on bus tours. Some specifically to do The Anzac Day thing, some to do a longer tour around Turkey and some taking longer still to include Turkey as part of a tour of The Middle East.

Talking to those on these tours, we found that they often felt as though all the adventure had been removed from their holiday. They were told what to do and when to do it. Obviously some of the tours are better than others and I've found that very often you get what you pay for. Look carefully at a range of tours before buying the cheapest as these once in a lifetime experiences are well worth experiencing properly.

Our path to Gallipoli took us through the Turkish interior, which was certainly a culture shock. We arrived at Canakkale, which apart from being the best base for visits to the Gallipoli sights, has little else to offer. There is a serious party mood in Town before the solemnity of Anzac Day itself takes over. Food, drink and accommodation in Turkey are all very cheap and staying in hotels, albeit of varying degrees of quality is within the budget of most backpackers.

The tourist office in Canakkale can give you a free map of the battle sights, which is very handy when exploring and worth picking up before you take the ferry across to Gelibolu in order to access the Gallipoli sight.

Anzac Day itself is a very early start, we arrived at the invasion sight at about 4:30am to find that about 5000 people had already arrived. The traditional Dawn Service is a very moving experience and as the sun rises above the sheer cliffs where the landing took place, you gain a perspective of the enormity of the challenge that had faced the invading troops.

After the dawn service there are a number of other services throughout the day with each country that sent forces to this campaign holding their own memorials.

The actual battle sight has been declared a National Park and is spread over a massive area. It is easily a full day to capture a perspective of the place and enthusiasts could no doubt spend several days exploring the area.

For Australians and New Zealanders a visit to Gallipoli is a type of pilgrimage, especially on Anzac Day. However, any visitor to this part of the world with an interest in history would find a one or two day stop most worthwhile.

By: John Peacock
September 2000