Tuesday 15 April

Because we did part of today's tour yesterday evening we looked around town this morning.On the waterfront is a big sculpture,  a relief map of the area and a lifesize diorama of soldiers in trenches. All very well done. We also walked along the breakwater so that I could dabble in the water.
We were collected at 9:45 and taken near Anzac Cove to the 2yr old Simulation Centre, where you move from room to room with movies, sound effects and moving floors to tell the story fom the Turkish perspective.  There was so much happen in 1914 that we aren't told about. There is a small museum there too. We went back to the hotel for lunch,  amd met our one extra passenger.  Now we are 3 we went in a minibus-being off sesson is good.
We went to a number of Anzac sites and shown original photos to explain the situations. The seats are being installed ready for 25th - glad we won't be there.  We found the 2 Yendon soldiers and came away with a deeper knowledge of why they lost their lives.
Back to the hotel,  and it was only the 3 of us going back to Istanbul and we were there by 21:00 (2hrs earlier than planned).

Monday 14 April

We were up before 6:00 and ready for our pick-up by 6:25.  (Didn't come till 6:45.) We drove through the suburbs in a thick fog, past quite tidy houses, flower beds and commercial and light industrial areas. There were only 3 others in the minibus, but by the time we stopped for breakfast at 8:45 another bus had joined us . We got to Eceabat for lunch at 12 and then reshuffled with some going to Gallipoli and the rest sailing across The Bosporus to Troy. We were there for about 2 hours and then we went back to Eceabat.  All of the others then were driven back to Istanbul,  but we checked in to the hotel.
We were sorting ouselves out when we had a call from our tomorrow's guide. We are the only ones booked for the morning, so he suggested that we start straight away and go for a drive with his wife and little daughter. I think we are the only ones at the hotel too, so it was sorted it with them and off we went. First we stopped in a village and had pancakes for dinner, with tomatoes,  cucumbers and yoghurt dressing. Then we went to various Cape Helles WW1sites including 3 British sites and the huge Turkish memorial. The sun had set by the time we got back.

Sunday 13 April

We packed our bags and left them at the door before heading out for our last jaunt around Athens.  We checked out a mob of cyclists preparing for a race then kept going and ended up circum-ambulating the Acropolis. We passed markets and ruins and people coming out of churches wth palm leaves and others in coffee shops. We eventually got back to the centre of the city in time for the guards' parade at the parliament. There was a band and lots of guards in white skirts kicking up high and marching slowly. Then we had to race home to catch the bus to the airport.  All the others were heading east at 16:00, but we had to hang around until 19:00.
The flight to Istanbul was only 1hr 20, and uneventful, and we were collected at ther airport by the hostel minibus which drove us into the old part of the city, with narrow winding cobbled streets. After checking in we went for a little walk to the main road to buy water. Now we will pack up for our Anzac trek.

Saturday 12 April

What a lovely sleep in! We all did it on our last day. Our tour didn't start until 10:00 so we all caught up for yesterday.
We drove through the city centre, stopping at the Olympic stadium and the Parliament where we saw the 2 guards changing from one sentry box to the other's. Quite a performance.  Then we went to the centre of it all, the Acropolis. First we climbed on the Hill of Mars where the judges met, and then went up to the Parthenon. Hordes of tourists but that's not surprising because it is pretty impressive.
We got back to the hotel in time to farewell 2 of our number who are joining another tour tomorrow. Most of the rest of us all went off to have Gk lunch (till 3:30). Then we wandered around the little streets and shops and then went to photograph the Temple of Zeus.

Friday 11 April

Our wake up call came at 2:00 (am)!! , and by 3:00 we were on our way to Tel Aviv. It took about 2 hrs to get through all the security screening and even then they didn't x-ray our bags. We took off at 7:15 and landed in Athens at 9:30. We were all very impressed with the city - excellent freeway, lots of street and balcony plantings,  no rubbish, but still some pretty crazy driving.
We are very close to the Acropolis,  which is far higher than I expected. We thought about going to the new museum but decided that we have seen enough archeology for the moment.  Instead we just looked through the floor outside to see their remains then caught a taxi to the bottom of the cable train up Lycabettus Hill which is in the middle of the city. It has amazing views 360º. Then we walked all the way home again past the Olympic stadium.  There are police on every corner because A. Merkel is in town and we'd heard

there had been a car bombing yesterday. 

During dinner it rained - for the first time in 4 weeks - but it had stopped by the time we had finshed. So we went for a little walk to see the floodlights.

Thursday 10 April

Our last day in Israel.
We started off at 8:00 to the City of David,  the ancient part of Jerusalem outside the old city walls. Here they have found archeology related to the time of the first Hebrew settlement and even the earlier Canaanite settlement. 3 of our group chose to wade through Hezekiah's tunnel and the rest of us walked through the dry Canaanite water tunnel. We all met at the pool of Siloam. We then drove to the Garden Tomb, the protestant alternative crucifixion site to Holy Sepulchre church - a much more peaceful place than the crowded candled incensed former. We had a little service to mark the end of this part of the trip.
Back at the hotel we ate our extras taken at breakfast and then ventured back into the old city. We wanted to see the Roman main shopping street, the Cardo. We wandered until I could go no more then caught the tram home again.

Szome of us went for a drink with Gady our guide to the American Colony Hotel, one of the 2 poshest in town. Then we went back for tea and to pack our bags ready for an early start tomorrow.

Wednesday 9 April

This morning the bus took us to the top of the Mount of Olives which looks across the Kedron Valley to the lower part of the city, and we walked down the hill to the Garden of Gethsemane where the bus picked us up again.  We got out near St Stephen's Gate and went in to the Bethesda Pool. St Ann's church is there too and it has the best acoustics of all buildings in Jerusalem so we stood in a circle and sang 2 songs. By the time we'd finished we had quite an enthusiastic audience. Then we started on the Via Dolorosa and the 14 stations of the cross which led us across the old city to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where we stopped for lunch.
We went inside the church,  and Gady showed us all the best places. He said that he had studied its architecture for one year. The first proper church was built in C4 by Helena the mother of Constantine. We went from the quarry that was originally on the site of Calvary,  and a C1 family tomb, to the rocks that were on top of the hill. There was only a short queue to go down into the "holy sepulchre" - a wait of only about 1 hr, but only 2 chose to join it.
We all split up then, and we wandered around the old city and came out at New Gate. From there we walked for quite a while in the new part of town - plazas, small shops, people- could have been one of any number of cities in Europe. We passed the King David Hotel and opposite is the YMCA which has a bell tower with a viewing platform, so we did. By then we'd just about completed a circle so we bought ice creams to get some small change, and caught the light rail back to the hotel.