It was amazing to drive out of Istanbul this morning. The city is so large. From one end to the other is 176km and we seemed to be driving for such a long time before we could say we were ‘out of Istanbul’. Driving further into the European part of Turkey, we saw increasing agriculture, especially sunflowers. Hugging the coastline of the Sea of Marmara, we went through Tekirdag, a town famous for its production of Raki, the high alcohol content Turkish drink, similar to Ouzo.

We stopped for lunch at a great little out-of-the-way restaurant at Seroz beach. This was where we first saw the Aegean Sea. Absolutely gorgeous quiet little place.

It was then only a relatively short drive to the Gallipoli [Gelibolu] peninsular where it was very poignant to be at the place where Chris’ grandfather had landed and eventually was captured by the Turks, and was a POW for 3 years. As a family, we were blessed that he returned home. So many others did not. The total casualties along the Gelibolu Peninsular, from all sides of this conflict, was 525,000 young people.

This beautiful coast was so idyllic today, that it was hard to imagine how different the water would have looked with so much blood filling it. The impossible task proved just that and the whole campaign was so futile. It was again compelling to hear the story, to know how the soldiers of each side respected each other yet still obeyed their orders.

To see the memorials for the Aussies, for the New Zealanders, the Brits and the Turks was a powerful testament to courage, heroism and sheer determination shown on all sides of this epic battle.

Each place we stopped at had a story to tell. Each grave we saw had a story, each name on a monument had a story, and each family back home was scarred, whether home was in Turkey or on other shores. To know that every Turkish flag we saw marked a mass grave was a stilling thought.

Each person today just wandered alone in quiet reflection, whether we were in a cemetery, at a memorial, reading plaques, gazing at the magnificence of the blue Aegean, or walking in the crystal clear shallow shores.

We reluctantly moved on to Eceabat to catch our vehicular ferry for the short ride across the Dardanelles to Canakkale for our accommodation. We are now back in Asia!