Chapter 2 -The Journey Begins
As any country boy knows, it’s no use travelling to a place in a foreign country without a map. I found numerous maps of Turkey, but no maps showing exactly how to get to Anzac Cove. All I knew was it was on the west coast of the Gallipoli peninsular. But there are no roads shown anywhere on the west coast.
So I wrote for advice to the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and the Turkish Consulate in Sydney. A received a very blunt letter in reply from Dept of Foreign Affairs:
‘Mr MacDonald - aren’t you aware Greece and Turkey are almost in a state of war. We strongly recommend Australians don’t travel to either country.’
I was so upset at such a blunt response I tore up the letter. I was aware that some friends of mine had left for the UK and had booked on one of the many bus tours ‘doing Europe’ which included Greece and Turkey (but not the Gallipoli Peninsular). Obviously they and the many hundreds of young Australians seeing the sites in Greece and Turkey via tour buses at that time didn’t realise - or didn’t care - about the supposedly life threatening situation.
By comparison I received a charming letter on the 3rd April 1975 from the Turkish Consulate General in Woollahra NSW, thanking me for my interest and enclosing a map of Turkey.
So much for the Aussie Government department’s advice. There were no direct flights from Sydney to Istanbul so I booked a Qantas flight; Sydney to Athens.
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28 April 1975 Monday - Sydney - warm, sunny:
Left Sydney Mascot airport at 4:00 pm. Saw the Simpson Desert from 30,000 ft. Pretty impressive for a country boy who had only flown once before.
This was when I was a 14 years old enthusiastic member of the Air Training Corps (ATC) in Inverell. The Flight Commander, local healthcare provider Dr Holmes, allowed me to fly with him once as a passenger in his WW2 vintage Stinson high wing monoplane. My joy ride lasted all of 15 minutes.
The Simpson had large ridges running North/South stretching for miles. A lot of water on the ground. Smooth flight except for some buffeting for about 20 minutes.
Bangkok: Arrived 2:05 EST - 11:05 pm local time. I just went inside the terminal. Tremendous range of jewellery and small carved statues. Not particularly cheap. Tiny inferior quality jade rings selling for $1.00. Very hot and humid even at this hour. Watched Mel Brook’s movie ‘Son of Frankenstein’. Meals on plane OK - filling.
Tehran: Landed 11:30 EST - 3:30 am local time. Not allowed to disembark due to security reasons. Seems quite a large city judging from the lights, very flat. Would have liked to see movie ‘Odessa File’ but decided to rest instead; slept 5 hours. Breakfast, then dozed for 1 hour.
Athens: 2 hours late into Athens. Crew and Hosties very good. Taxi to budget hotel listed in Frommer’s Travel Guide.
30 April 1975 Wednesday - sunny
Duncan at the Acropolis
Walked around Athens. Visited the Acropolis, went on a Funicular Railway. Phoned Nea Kafissia camp site - advised the NAT tour bus would arrive later that day. I had friends on that tour and had a copy of their timetable.
* * * *
1 May 1975 Thursday - cloudy with sunny breaks
I arranged to send my suitcase with the NAT bus, 500 Drachmas. I could pick it up in London. This saved me a lot of trouble as all I carried now was my little red shoulder bag with two changes of clothes.
I wanted to cash some travellers cheques, but the streets were full of corsages of flowers. That meant it was a religious or public holiday. That meant the banks would be shut. No credit cards in those days. All my funds were in US$ travellers cheques.
Duncan visiting the NAT tour group met Judy, Jill and Anne, at Nia Kafissia camp site
Met Judy, Jill and Anne from the NAT bus tour group. Visited the Archaeological Museum, saw Boy on a Horse and many other exhibits. Took bus back to Nia Kafissia with the girls, 18D Went to dinner, white wine and spaghetti.
I slept in the Cook’s tent - hopeless. One of the worst nights I’ve had - nearly clobbered a couple of obnoxious guys. Left to go back to Athens at 5:30 am while it was still dark.
* * * *
2 May 1975 Friday- overcast with sunny breaks
Bus from Nia Kafissia back to Athens 8D. Walked to Syntagma (Constitution) Square and sat at an outdoor coffee shop in the sun from 7:00 to 9:00 am. Tried to book a flight to Istanbul today but told all flights were full.
While I’m sitting drinking coffee I observe people gathering in the square. There seems to be some sort of demonstration by students. As I watch I notice what appears to be an armed Bren Gun Carrier appear in one of the side streets. I check three other streets leading into the square. Bren Gun carriers have moved into each one. What I find disconcerting is one has its gun turret aimed directly at the cafe where I am sitting. Time to go Duncan.
I took a bus to the airport. Got a seat at the last minute on an Air France flight to Istanbul. Couldn’t cash my Drachmas. Good flight, very tired but not feeling as low as earlier this morning.
* * * *
Istanbul
Mislaid my Frommer’s Travel Guide on Turkey going through customs. Cashed 2 x US$20 travellers cheques - 650 Turkish Lira (L). Took taxi to Youth Hostel, which was in the middle of the Old Town, 70L. Met David, American, Ed, Canadian and Philippe a Frenchman. Went to dinner in an old restaurant. Beer, spicy soup, potatoes and salad, 17L.
Went with Ed to the Floating Bridge over the Golden Horn. Turkish tea 0.75L, very good, very sweet. Hostel dirty but not too bad. Accommodation 17L per night. Four rooms sleeping 6 to a room. Very stuffy.
* * * *
3 May 1975 Friday - Showers, cloudy, mild
Hagia Sophia interior
Up at 8:00 am, no breakfast. Went to St. Sophia or Hagia Sophia - (sophia being the phonetic spelling in Latin of the Greek word for wisdom, its full name in Greek is Ναός τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας, "Shrine of the Holy Wisdom of God" - Latin: Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia; Turkish: Ayasofya) a former Greek Orthodox patriarchal basilica (church), later an imperial mosque and now a museum.
The current building was constructed between 532 and 537 on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. It was designed by the Greek scientists Isidore of Miletus, a physicist, and Anthemius of Tralles, a mathematician. It is renowned for its massive flat dome.
Upon the capture
of Constantinople in 1204 during the
Fourth Crusade, the church was ransacked and
desecrated by the Latin Christians.
On May 29, 1453 Constantinople was taken
by the Ottomans. In accordance with the custom at the time
Sultan Mehmet II gave his troops three days
of unbridled pillage once the city fell, after which he would claim
its contents himself. Hagia Sophia was
not exempted from the pillage, becoming its focal point as the
invaders believed it to contain the greatest treasures of the
city.
The church formed a refuge for many of those who were unable to
contribute to the city's defence, such as women, children and
elderly. The building was desecrated and looted, while the elderly
and infirm were killed, women and girls were raped. Those still
alive at the end of three days were chained and sold into
slavery.
Hagia Sophia was renowned for its massive flat dome.
When the new St. Peter’s Basilica was being built in Rome (1506 to 1626), the builders did not have the skills to construct a flat dome as per Hagia Sophia. That knowledge had been lost.
Hagia Sophia Interior
Hagia Sophia remained the world's largest cathedral for almost 1,000 years up until the completion of the Seville Cathedral in Spain which was completed in 1520.
The Blue Mosque
I next visited the nearby larger Sultan Ahmed Mosque commonly known as the Blue Mosque because of the colour of the interior tiles. It was completed in 1616. Initially there was some controversy over its six minarets - it was common for all mosques to have only four except the Masjid al-Haram, Grand Mosque in Mecca, which had six. The issue was finally settled when an additional minaret was added to Mecca’s Grand Mosque giving it seven.
The Covered Bazaar was my next stop followed by the Nuruosmaniye Mosque, then the Burnt Column Bookstore. Lunch was at the famous Pudding Shop - beans and chocolate pudding 8.50L.
Back at the hostel cafeteria for a coke then onto Topkapi Place. Topkapi is the largest and oldest palace in the world surviving to our day. In 1924 it was turned into a museum by Kemal Atatürk, (of Gallipoli fame) and the first President of the Republic of Turkey. Situated on the Acropolis, the site of the first settlement in Istanbul, it commands an impressive view of the Golden Horn, the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara. This palace, built in the 1470's, was initially called the New Palace, but in recent times it came to be known as the Topkapi Palace.
* * * *
3 May 1975 - Young Turk with his Dancing Bear. Blue Mosque in the background
Date with a Dancing Bear
After leaving Topkapi, I was walking through a nearby park when I came upon a Turk with a large brown bear on a chain. The bear held a wooden staff in one paw. I stopped and asked if I could take a photo. The Turk nodded and I clicked.
The Turk then demanded 100L. Call me a naive country boy, but I had no idea one had to pay to take a photo in many countries. Even if that was the case, I believed 100L was a rip-off - my entire daily budgeted expenses including accommodation was less than 100L.
So I said in no uncertain terms; “I wasn’t going to pay!”
He started shouting and over the next couple of minutes gradually lowered the price to 4L. If that had been his original cost I would have paid, but now my dander was up and I refused to pay anything.
By this time he was shouting, I was shouting, the bear was grunting and started shuffling it’s feet, thumping the ground with its staff and dribbling saliva. To cap it all a crowd of locals had gathered, no doubt attracted by the din. In all honesty I was watching the bear more closely than I was watching the Turkish handler. With the crowd increasing it occurred to me that this was an argument I had better win.
Suddenly the Turk stopped shouting, the bear stopped thumping its staff and the crowd drifted away, leaving Duncan still shouting and waving his fist in the air. In hindsight I don’t think I won the argument, I just won the shouting match. So much for diplomacy.
* * * *
Dinner at the Pudding Shop again. Walked down to Atatürk Bridge, then down to nearby Galata Bridge. This was the fourth bridge built on this site to span the Golden Horn and was completed in 1912 by the German firm Hüttenwerk Oberhausen AG. This floating bridge was 466 m long and 25 m wide.
I had Turkish tea at one of the many tea houses under the bridge. One could see the illuminated Topkapi Palace - it seemed to be floating.
4 May 1975, Sunday - blue sky, warm, showers afternoon
Went to Galata
Tower. Lift to top cost $6 - I didn’t go up.
Walked down to the wharf. Took ferry trip on the Bosporus to
the Black Sea 7L, at 1:30 pm.
Stopped at a little fishing village near the Black Sea named
Anadolu Kavazi for 3/4 hour. Arrived back 7:00 pm. A good
day.
Bosphorus - ruined Crusader Castle on the top of the ridge
Met Melville, Dutch; Bill, Hawaiian and Naomi, from Adelaide. Went to Pudding Shop for dinner; shish kabobs, upstairs for a beer; left approximately 10 pm - witnessed 2 brawls.
5 May 1975, Monday - clear sky, warm
Took bus to Topkapi Depot 2.5L. Advised bus to Eceabat on the Gallipoli peninsular, leaves every hour. Went to buy postcards, 11 @ 0.5L. Met Bob from AutoTours, he advised NAT bus was due in at 7:00 pm.
A lot of Turkish soldiers walking around. They appeared a mean hard mob, high cheek bones and slanted eyes. I thought they looked like direct descendants of Genghis Khan. The civilian Turks in Istanbul, in comparison, looked fat and sleek.
I was surprised to see two soldiers, in uniform, ammunition bandoliers slung over their shoulders, walking down the street ahead of me, hand in hand. “Are they gay?” I asked one of my colleagues from the Youth Hostel, who had been in Turkey a few weeks longer than me.
He responded, “No, it just means they are good friends and probably going to the movies together.” Yeah, right.
Took bus to camp site 2.5L. Waited 1/2 hour for NAT bus to arrive. Arranged to meet Judy at the Blue Mosque 10:00 am tomorrow. Taxi back - beat driver down (sorry, negotiated) from 20L to 10L.
* * * * *
Judy and Duncan in front of Hagia Sophia
Met Judy at Blue Mosque. Then on to Hagia Sophia, followed by a ferry ride up the Bosporus. On the boat we met a Turkish youth. He said; “I am Christian.”
I said; “G’day Chris, I’m Duncan, how are you going?” End of conversation.
I suspected he didn’t speak any more English, or maybe he was offended by my reply. Only later did I realise he was probably describing his religion, not his name. And I thought everyone in Turkey was Muslim. Dummy Duncan.
Bosphorus fishing boat
Dinner at the Pudding Shop. Watched son et lumière (sound and light show) at the Blue Mosque. Another good day.
* * * *
I changed my room at the Youth Hostel often, as every couple of nights one room would be invaded by a small army of green iridescent insects. The guys unlucky enough to occupy that room would awake covered with red wheals from the insect bites. The only remedy was to go to one of the pharmacies in town and buy Calamine Lotion. The room would be sealed for a day and fumigated. I made sure I moved into a room that had just been fumigated and was lucky enough not to encounter the little green monsters.
7 May 1975, Wednesday – fine
Duncan against the Istanbul skyline - Topkapi palace on the left, Hagia Sophia on the right (4 minarets), Blue Mosque (6 minarets) far right
Took Judy to Covered Bazaar then to Topkapi Palace. Saw Spoonmaker diamond. Lunch at Pudding Shop. Back to Bazaar, Judy bought bangles and a Russian type fur hat for me. She then left on her NAT bus at 6:00 pm.
I had dinner with Bill, Ed, Naomi and two others. Early night.
