Military History Tours          On Tour - Swim the Dardanelles 28 August 2011

A really great day to start the tour, temperature a balmy 30 degrees, and lots of sunshine.

Clare, Richard, Lynn, Lynn, Lindee and Jim gathered with guides, John, John and Yavez, and driver Mehmet in the foyer of the Point Hotel, piled in the bus then left Istanbul shining in the sunshine, and headed South East toward the Gallipoli Peninsula. An excellent meal of local seafood or chicken was had at Eceabat, then on to Chanuk Bair for the situation brief where John #1 (the one whose grandson is getting a Turkish hat) gave a background to the conflict and explained the course of the war. Respects were duly paid to Atat³rk, and the New Zealanders who fell in August 1915, then on to the Kum Hotel for a swim in the sea, dinner where we met up with the rest of the group and a well-earned rest. Tomorrow we visit the battle sites.