From my journal, May 19, 2002: Beautiful day, clear blue skies, great views of the Dardanelles and the tanker traffic as we take the ferry across to the Gallipoli peninsula. The main threat now is from forest fire, which has destroyed much of the wooded area, with unsupervised recovery leaving many places with an impenetrable, but lower brush and brambles. So today, the views are broader than would have been the case during the battles in 1915. In ancient stories as told by guides], Dardanos was the result of Zeus being ‘naughty’, and married a local king’s daughter, giving his name to the area and the straits. At the Gallipoli museum, busloads of kids on holiday. We met a group from Samsun, exchanged picture taking, then met them several times later as we toured, each time to renewed handshakes and smiles and a disruption of the teacher’s plans. Hiked down from Conkbayit, the main Turkish lines to Lone Pine, where the Aussie assault made it as far as this ridge on the first day, but never any farther. We hiked about 5 km, sometimes in rebuilt trenches, mostly on the road, then down to Anzac Cove, another 2 km, for a picnic lunch we’d bought at a supermarket earlier – 3 kinds of cheese, various breads, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, antep ezme (thick, spicy chili paste) and a coos coos – bulgur- mint meze, ayran (a yogurt drink). Drove down to the Cove. (3 pm)

Then back to Canakkale, and brief stop at the German-made cannons dominating the straits. Once able to prevent Allied shipping from traversing to the Black Sea, now they can’t hold off swarms of kids using them as a playground. Back to hotel just before 6, in time for a swim – then lay and watched the swallows swooping to skim water from the pool. Some flyers are quite accomplished, barely making a ripple, others clumsily hit the surface breast first and have to quickly flutter off to avoid a total dunk. At one point, a dozen birds were swooping and splashing over the pool.

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