Canakkale And Crossing The Dardanelles

Our last night on Asian soil. The hotel displayed a beautifully decorated Turkish folk costume.

Çanakkale (pronounced [tʃaˈnakkaËŒle]) is a town and seaport in Turkey, in Çanakkale Province, on the southern (Asian) coast of the Dardanelles (or Hellespont) at their narrowest point. The population of the town is 106,116.

The hotel had very nice grounds.

We were straight on the shore of the strait (haha) The Dardanelles ( /dÉ‘rdəˈnÉ›lz/; Turkish: Çanakkale BoÄŸazı, Greek: Δαρδανέλλια, Dardanellia), formerly known as Hellespont ( /ˈhÉ›lɨspÉ’nt/; literally "Sea of Helle"), is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. The strait is 61 kilometres (38 mi) long but only 1.2 to 6 kilometres (0.75 to 3.7 mi) wide, averaging 55 metres (180 ft) in depth with a maximum depth of 103 metres (338 ft). Water flows in both directions along the strait, from the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean via a surface current and in the opposite direction via an undercurrent.

Ugly looking thing...jellyfish?

The Dardanelles is unique in many respects. The very narrow and winding shape of the strait is more akin to that of a river. It is considered one of the most hazardous, crowded, difficult and potentially dangerous waterways in the world. The currents produced by the tidal action in the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara are such that ships under sail must await at anchorage for the right conditions before entering the Dardanelles.

Looking at you, Europe! The city of Kilitbahir is across from Canakkale in Asia.

Sunset in Asia.

The Ferry at Lapseki, across from Gelibolu.

Leaving Asia ---

Our ferry is filling in. (How lucky am I to get a bright red truck pull into the last spot there?)

Asia in the background

...and that is Europe over there!

Gelibolu, also known as Gallipoli (from Greek: Καλλίπολις, kallipolis, "beautiful city"), is the name of a town and a district in Çanakkale Province of the Marmara region, located in Eastern Thrace in the European part of Turkey on the southern shore of the peninsula named after it on the Dardanelles strait, two miles away from Lapseki on the other shore. The Macedonian city of Callipolis was founded in the 5th century B.C. It has a rich history as a naval base for various rulers. The emperor Justinian I fortified Gallipoli and established important military warehouses for corn and wine there, of which some Byzantine ruins can still be seen. After the capture of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204, Gallipoli passed into the power of Venice. (So the Venetian Empire reached all the way to Constantinople at the very beginning of the 13th century!!!)

Still it is better known today for the battle fought there during World War I. In 1915, Gallipoli became the center of bloody encounters between the Central Powers (Germany, Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria) and the Entente or Allied Powers (United Kingdom, Russia, France, Australia and USA). It was the first major conflict, in which Australia and New Zealand participated. For Turkey, the battle was of great significance, as it served as the basis for their war of independence, and the foundation of the Turkish Republic.