ANZAC Day Turkey 2023 / Option 3

Duration: 05 Days / 04 Nights
Highlights: Gallipoli, Dawn Service, Troy, Assos
Departure Dates: April
Note: This travel package is flexible prior to 24th & post 28th of April, if you intend to arrive anywhere outside the below dates we can accommodate your travel needs be it hotels, transport, day tours, airport transfers or simply any assistance you might need during your stay.

The dates for this tour lend itself to those who would be happy to spend a respectful day at the services.

24^th April 2023,………………………………..…..Istanbul – Gallipoli Peninsula

It is important that you inform us one week prior to the start of your package if you intend to forfeit your bus trip and intend getting to Eceabat on your own from another destination. We ask that people who have already stated this in previous emails still contact us one week prior to confirm their plans.

Pick-up in Istanbul : 06:00 : Meet your bus group in front of the Hagia Sofia Mosque (pink mosque), opposite the Blue Mosque in Sultanahmet, Istanbul. Look for our representative holding the TJs TOURS sign. Bus times are essential. The buses can wait for no-one.

Please be on your bus at least 10 minutes prior to stated times for immediate departure. The offsiders will mark your attendance for boarding purposes.

07:00 Depart for Eceabat from Istanbul.

There will be a comfort stop half way at a station/cafeteria, where you can buy lunch.

13:00 Enter the town of Eceabat where we will grab our Gallipoli goodies bag.

Lunch in Eceabat.

After lunch showings of Gallipoli documentary, “The Fatal Shore” & the movie “Gallipoli”.

19:00 Join the convoy of TJs TOURS buses for departure to the Dawn Service site where we will grab a space in the large crowd and wait, listening to the pre dawn program.

25th April 2023, ANZAC Day Services

05:30 Dawn Service commences as the sun breaks the skyline behind the Turkish Sphinx.
07:30 While waiting for your bus to transfer you to the next service you can eat breakfast on the grass with the group or feel free to tell your leader that you want to go exploring; take your breakfast pack and walk the ridges and old trenches to the next service.
Australian and/or New Zealand National services. (Service times for these have yet to be released)
15:00 Approx. Buses depart for Eceabat, where you will check into your accommodation, have a shower and a well-deserved sleep.
19.30 Screening of the Gallipoli movie. And parties around town if you wish to attend.

26th April 2023,……………………………………………………. Gallipoli tour

Breakfast time will be decided upon by the group the night before.
12:00 : Departure for Gallipoli battlefield tour of the ANZAC area.
5 hour tour visiting:

On tour you’ll visit:

• Gallipoli – Kabatepe War Museum & Simulation Centre
• Beach Cemetery (John Simpson’s Grave)
• ANZAC Cove
• Ari Burnu (First ANZAC landing place)
• Lone Pine Cemetery (Australian memorial)
• Johnston’s Jolly (Walk in the ANZAC trenches)
• View Shrapnel Valley
• Turkish Memorial
• The Nek(Light Horse scene depicted in the Gallipoli movie) &Walker’s Ridge
• Chunuk Bair (Main New Zealand memorial)
• Return to TJs TOURS Agency & Hotel in Eceabat.

Please tell us before tour if you would like us to research or locate an ANZAC  grave. There are no registers out on the peninsula.A restaurant lunch is included today.
(Already toured Gallipoli with us before? Then you could use the day to go exploring in the trenches.)

27th April 2023,…………………………………………………………Grandeur Tour

07.00    Breakfast at your accommodation

07.30   Depart for full day tour

08.00   Ferry crossing from Eceabat to Çanakkale over the famous Dardanelle waters.

08.30    Arrival in Çanakkale. Drive to the site of Troy, 36km to the south.

TROY : Tour the historic home of the Trojan wars. Here you will see the remains of 9 city levels destroyed over time by both human and natural disasters. You will hear the stories of the myth and the history behind the ongoing excavations.

Depart for ASSOS : A traditional, stone-house village, set upon a mountainside with a beautiful harbour down the bottom, overlooking the island of Lesvos. Here we will tour the Temple of Athena on the highest point of the mountain and have Turkish tea at a local Çay (tea) House which has an extraordinary set of coffee tables to sit at.

Depart for BALABANLI  VILLAGE : TJ’s home village. Here you will wander the traditional village seeing sights such as the old wheat crushing wheel and the thatched summer houses for the sheep. A visit to TJs parent’s house, a small stone-built house which is full of Turkish hospitality and a cook who can whip up a storm will be a highlight of your day. TJ’s parent’s will then delight you with her traditional home-cooked lunch in which we will all sit together as family and share the meal.

Drive to BABAKALE, the most western point of Asian Turkey. Visit the last castle built during the Ottoman empire in 1723.

Next stop – TEMPLE of APOLLO SMINTHEUS in the town of Gurpinar.

This temple was built by the people of the Troad as a testament to Apollo, king of Tenedos and patron god of Chryse (known now as Bozcaada and Gulpinar) for siding with the Anatolians in the Trojan war. The figured elements here depicting the Trojan war as decribed by Homer makes this place unique.

Roadside stop to view TUZLA DAGI, an active volcanic mountain with a surface of salt stretching out from its base which has been collected for years by locals to use in their cooking.

Drive to ALEXANDRIA TROAS, once considered by Constantine to be named the capital of the Roman empire, only a few structures exist today, including a ruined bath, gymnasium complex and a recently uncovered stadium. But these attest to its former importance as a significant port for traveling between Anatolia and Europe.

Late evening departure for ECEABAT. Anyone wishing to go southbound may be dropped off at the bus station in Canakkale for an onward bus journey.

28th April 2023,…………………………………Gallipoli Peninsula – Istanbul

08:00 Breakfast service begins.
10:00 Depart for Istanbul, Sultanahmet area. End of tour.

Option 3: 359 GBP/pax

Tour includes:

• ANZAC Day Services
• Fully guided Gallipoli, Troy & Grandeur Tour
• 3 nights hotel/pension accommodation
• 4 breakfasts
• 2 lunches on 26^th and 27^th April
• 5 day Turkish/English-speaking leader
• 5 day private a/c coach transport (return Istanbul)
• Return Ferry
• All entrance fees
• Video screenings
• Gallipoli museum entrance fee

Exclusions :

• Evening meals
• Drinks