Trip checklist  

• Transport by air conditioned coach.
• Fully guided tours of the Gallipoli battlefield .
• Services of professional guide and local representatives.
• Accommodation –1 night in the open at the dawn service area of ANZAC Cove.
• Entrance fees as mentioned as part of the itinerary.
•  Meals as listed in the itinerary (B – Breakfast, L – Lunch, D – Dinner).
•  ANZAC documentary shown while en route to Gallipoli.

Day  1, Saturday 24^th April – ISTANBUL – GALLIPOLI – CANAKKALE – Make your way to our meeting point outside Aya  Sofia in Sultan Ahmet. Please be there no later than 06.30. You’ll be met by your rep for the journey and meet your fellow travellers. We will depart Istanbul at 07.00 the journey takes about 4 and ½ hours and we’ll have time for refreshments and to pick up supplies for the journey about halfway to Gallipoli.  En route we’ll have time to watch the latest documentary on ANZAC.  We’ll arrive at the Kabatepe Museum, the gateway to the ANZAC memorial area. After the museum we’ll take a visit to the sombre and moving reminders of this tragic battlefield.

We will visit……

• Brighton Beach
• Ari burnu and ANZAC Cove cemeteries
• Lone Pine Australian memorial and cemetery
• Visit some original tunnels and trenches at Johnston’s Jolly and Quinn’s Post.
• The infamous Nek cemetery
• The Chunuk Bair Ataturk memorial and the New Zealand memorial and cemetery.

After our tour we’ll make our way to Eceabat where we will enjoy an optional ANZAC Barbeque and buffet dinner (please let your guide/rep know if you won’t be participating) Around 9.30 this evening we will make our way to the ANZAC Peace Park where the Dawn Service will be held next morning, there we will find our seats and wait for the dawn.

Day 2, Sunday 25^th April – ANZAC COVE GALLIPOLI – It’s time to prepare yourself for one of the most solemn and moving moments of your life. You’ve already visited the sites and cemeteries now it’s time to visit the emotions that this site brings out in most Australians, New Zealanders, Brits and indeed Turks. The Gallipoli campaign proved to be the defining moment for three national identities. Because of the events that began at dawn on 25^th April 1915 Australians, Kiwis and Turks all became masters of their own national destinies. Please read our “Packing list” as the weather can be very cold and wet this time of the year.

The Dawn Service

Around 4.30 in the morning around the same time 95 years previously that troops were being rowed ashore the Dawn Service will begin. There will be musicians, poets and a lot of rugged up people waiting for the sun’s first rays. A lone piper or bugler will appear on the hills behind and beckon the dawn. Politicians will speak about the horrors of war and how “No longer will our sons be made to fight in foreign wars and be the cannon fodder for imperial nations”. We shall all embrace each other as one nation of pilgrims from all our corners of the globe and we will remember those that came before and those who met them on this “Fatal Shore”.

Following the Dawn Service there will be a mass exodus up to the Australian memorial at Lone Pine cemetery. As the sun warms us we will gather for national anthems and stories of sadness and glory. After the Australian service we head finally to Chunuk Bair for the New Zealand memorial service. We’ll have lunch then set off to Istanbul  around 3.00 pm. Please let us know if you require any accommodation back in Istanbul prior to travelling. The staff from Road Runner are on hand to help with any arrangements you might need. (BL)

We hope you had a wonderful and moving experience and we look forward to seeing you again in the future.