On the way to the Cove we passed a fishing boat and felt very welcome as the men waved to us and seemed very pleased to see us. What a great start! Arriving at ANZAC Cove we felt very moved and priviledged to be in such a special place. The landing was made on the 25th April 1915, and the ensuing battle has been documented as a result of a tactical error. Many soldiers were killed here while landing and if some managed to survive they had to contend with the difficulty of scaling the Ariburnu cliffs. Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), was the Turkish Commanding Officer and after the war, in 1934 said the following famous words in honour of the ANZAC troops. "Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives....you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours... You, the mothers, who sent your sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosm and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."

Next stop was to visit the Ariburnu Cemetery and we all found it difficult to undertand how young some of the soldiers were. The War Graves were very well cared for and it was sad but we felt proud to be able to take the time to visit this resting place of so many brave men. Lone Pine was our next stop and just to stand near the lone pine was special. The monumental wall that lists soldiers who died fighting for their country is a fitting memorial and one that allows people of today to visit and reflect on the bravery of these men. The words carved in the stonework here really say it all - "Their name liveth for evermore".... Over this amazing day we managed to visit lots of sites in the Gallipoli Historic Park such as Quinn's Post, Chunuk Bair, The Nek and the Turkish Conkbayiri Memorial. There are huge tablets here with descriptions of the war and statues to depict the bravery and camaradie of both soldier and their enemies. One of the outstanding statues is one of an old man with a young girl looking up at him as part of the future..One of the stops was to see the war trenches for ourselves. We were amazed at how small they were and how close to each other as well. We met a group of young Turkish soldiers here at the Memorial and they were very happy to pose for us and in broken English, a small conversation of welcome. Visiting areas of such immense historical interest certainly makes one proud to be able to come and pay respects to the bravery of our forefathers. Sadly our day was coming to an end and it was time to return to Eceabat and cross back to Canakkale. There was a bit of a hiccup as the car ferry was held up so our guide arranged for a private boat to take us over. Once back we walked along the seawalk and took note of the huge structure of a wooden horse that was built to be in the movie Troy. The street we walked up was full of souvenirs - mostly glass and wooden but soon we were on our way back to the ship. Our sailout today was just spectacular and the small boats were just black images in the sunset. The next morning early we sailed past Istanbul and it just wetted our enthusiasm for the coming visit on the way back. The Mosque on the shoreline gave us something to look forward to visiting in the days to come. Marco Polo Cruise 2007