Today we drove into Edirne, to find the tourist office the Garmin swore was there. What we found was an empty, undeveloped building site. We're starting to regard the Garmin as slightly less than infallible. But Edirne is interesting in its own right. The road traffic here, as in the rest of Turkey, is somewhat different in character from that in Australia. At all times of the day you find small or large groups of men — it's always men — sitting outside a tea or coffee shop drinking the tea or coffee and whiling away the time together.
We've noticed a huge number of stray dogs about the place. On the way out of Edirne we passed a statue on a road island with a dog curled up on its shade. Another thing is the number of tractors you see on the roads — and lined up for sale at distributors!
As we left Edirne, we had to chuckle when we saw a truck pulled up by a roundabout, and the three men from it by the side of the road doing weight exercises! And then we were passed by a bus which, from its external appearance, could only have been a prison van.
Rice seems to be a common crop in this region — we've passed quite a few paddy fields around here.
Further down towards Gallipoli, we came to the small village of Paşayiğit, where we dropped in to a small coffee shop for — you guessed it — coffee! Warren had a Turkish coffee, and Susie something masquerading as a white coffee. Our host was most welcoming and, despite a massive language barrier, carried on a very animated conversation with us. As we were leaving, he was most pleased to pose for photos with his friends from the shops nearby. And, amazingly, a couple of lads sitting in the shade nearby, wished us 'Have a good journey'.
We continued southwards, with more amazing scenery. We we getting used to seeing red poppies by the wayside and in the fields — we later found out that here they are commonly called the 'Gallipoli rose'.
We checked out a possible stopping place by the wayside, but found it already inhabited by a number of stray dogs — that someone is apparently caring for by supplying water — so we decided to continue onwards.
A little further on we came upon the Akbaş Martyrs' Memorial. This is a memorial and graveyard for the Turkish soldiers who were evacuated from the front to the transportation hospitals at Ağadere and Akbaş wharves, but who succumbed to their wounds there. 1213 soldiers are commemorated here. There is a statue behind the memorial, similar to other statues we have seen on the peninsula, of a Turkish soldier carrying a wounded allied soldier — there is an intense respect here for the soldiers of the Gallipoli campaign, especially for the Anzacs, who the Turks still hold in high esteem.
Distance driven — today, 169 miles ( 272 km ); to date, 20,221 miles ( 32,543 km )
No comments:
Post a Comment