By William Coleman
Today was supposed to be a much shorter day because we left Camp Alexandros very early so we could make the most of out time in Gallipoli, Turkey. One thing we did not anticipate was the serious levels of security we would find at the Turkish border.
The drive to the Turkish border was pretty simple and easy. Nice long well kept roads, a little bit too easy. So the decision was made to take a more scenic route. Once we got through the mountains of Greece we descended onto the border.
All the insurance documents, passports and car papers were in order and it was pretty much plain sailing through the first set of security, until we got to the ‘Passport Police’. This is where things got a little bit more intense, not a bad thing really as it shows that the Turkish border is very well protected. The general consensus of the team was that we simply raised suspicion due to convoy and the high value Mercedes Vito.
After 3.5 hours at the border with every vehicles searched and X-Rayed we finally gained entry to Turkey. With entry completed we did not have that long of a drive to our site, Kum Hotel & Camping. A review of the site will be coming tomorrow.
The drive through Turkey down to down to Gallipoli was very smooth sailing, especially when compared the experiences in Albania. Once we got to the site we very quickly pitched up and travelled to the memorial sites to pay our respects.
We arrived with about 30 minutes of sunlight left, which was lucky. Even as the sun started to go down it amplified the mood at Gallipoli, it was a mixture of appreciation and solitude. The names on the plaques that surround the moment have over 2 thousand British names on there and really highlights the impact that World War 1 had on the British nation.
