Gallipoli/Troy 1 Wayne and Cass, NSW, Australia, Nov 2025
Considering the distance from Istanbul to the Anzac sites (5 hours on a mini bus), it was absolutely fabulous. Pickup smooth, trip smooth, comfort stop half way, lunch plentiful, transition to guide smooth. 12 on our bus, Australian, Kiwi, Canadians. Our guide for the afternoon’s tour of WW1 sites was Burak, and he was pure gold. We stayed on for the read more second day (others headed straight back to Istanbul). Gorgeous half hour across the Dardanelles to the delightful surprise of Canakkale. Staff transitioning us across and to our hotel fantastic. We then bar hopped our night away and met the most wonderful Turkish people. Çanakkale was fantastic. Slow morning. Cafe hopped. Short (25 min) bus ride to the ruins of Troy - it was nice, but that’s all. Back across the Dardanelles and to our hotel in Istanbul by 9.30pm, which was ahead of schedule. If you must see Gallipoli, you also must have a night out in Canakkale. Glad we did it.