CHANNAKALE

Chanakkale is situated on the part of the Dardanelles known as 'the Narrows' as it is the narrowest part of Dardanelles being just over a kilometre across. The Dardanelles is the stretch of water that separates Europe from Asia and links the Aegean Sea to the south with the Sea of Marmara to the north.

Somewhere here Alexander the Great has crossed the straits on his campaign against the Persian Emperor. It's handed down that he gave order to beat the waves to show them their master is coming to cross the sea.

Nowadays many travellers (also from New Zealand) come to Canakkale to visit the World War One Gallipoli battlefields where in 1915 the German Liman von Sanders and Mustafa Kemal Pasha, later better known as Atatürk, defended the coast against the allies. During this campaign more than 250.000 soldiers lost their life. Many of them are burried at the cemeteries of the vicinity.

Another hotspot nearby is the ancient city of Troy. Here is the place to see and feel that people have been living in this land continously since 3000 B.C.!