Big Adventures, Little World

Another early morning start, this time so we could get on a tour bus to Gallipoli, where we would be going on a tour and seeing where the ANZAC’s landed in World War I. It was a long drive out there from Istanbul, taking about 5 hours in total which for the most part of it we used to catch up on the sleep we had missed out on the past few days. After a stop on the way for a snack we got to Eceabat, a nearby town to Gallipoli, where we had lunch with the tour group. After that though, we were back on the bus and making our way out to the The Kabatepe Gallipoli Museum.

The Kabatepe Gallipoli Museum was small but had some interesting displays including photos and letters from the war, and of people involved in the war. There were empty shells from all kinds of weapons, including bullets that had hit each other in mid air and became embedded in each other, giving you an idea of how many bullets must have been flying for it to happen as much as it did. Other displays included were soldiers’ uniforms from different countries, weapons used in the war and artefacts found.

Next stop after the museum was a shirt drive down the road to Anzac Cove where the ANZAC’s landed in 1915, 95 years ago. It was a hot day without any clouds in the sky, and looking out over the water and even across the lands was beautiful, especially for a place where such tragedy had happened so long ago. We were taken around Anzac Cove, and to the statues and memorials that had been erected for all the fallen soldiers, followed by being show what remains of the trenches and where a lot of the fighting had happened, where at some points, the armies where only separated by a narrow road, but down in their trenches.

After previously visiting other places destroyed in wars, like Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan where the nuclear bombs were dropped in World War II, and Mauthausen Concentration Camp where prisoners where held and killed in Austria, Gallipoli had a completely different feel to it. While it was still sad because of the horrible things that had happened there and the amount of people that had lost their lives, it was the fact that the soldiers had gone to war to fight for their countries, and that it wasn’t just innocent people losing their lives like had happened at these other places. It was a feeling of pride, knowing that so many had given their lives back then so that Australia became what it was today.

Once we had finished our tour, it was back on the bus and then onto the ferry to cross the Dardanelles to Canakkale where we were staying for the night. The ferry took only about 15 minutes to cross the Dardanelles, and then it was about another half hour in the van before we reached our hotel which was right on the beach with some spectacular views. We sat around by the pool for a while before heading into the restaurant where we had a buffet dinner included as part of our tour, which we didn’t even realise until afterwards. The food was delicious and there was plenty of it as well, and by the end of it we could barley move and it was time to head to bed and get some sleep as it had been a long day.

Getting to Turkey was tough, but it more than made up for it while we were there. It was amazing. Why was it tough to get there though? Well our plane left at 6.30 in the morning, so we had to be at the airport by about 4.30. Now this wouldn’t be so bad if I hadn’t had to have worked the previous 2 nights until 1.30 in the morning. So it was about 2.30 by the time I got home from work then we were catching the taxi to the airport at 3.30 so there wasn’t much point in sleeping. Thankfully Turkey is a 4 hour flight which gave me a small chance to get a bit of sleep which I definitely needed.

Once we arrived in Turkey we first had to line up to get our visa so we could enter the country. So 15 Euros later we were lining up to head through immigration and through the airport to be greeted by our driver holding a sign with my name on it. You know you’re important when that happens. Then it was in the car for the drive to the hotel which we mostly just slept through again.

After checking in to the hotel we just lazed around the hotel and found out how we had to get to the basketball stadium that night and wandered down the main street in Sultanahmet to get some food. Then it was time to make our way to the stadium and to see the Australian team take on Slovenia in the Eighth Finals. The stadium was huge, 15000 people huge, and looked great from the outside, although we had to walk all the way around the back to get to our entrance. We were excited to see the Australians play so we found our seats and sat there with our Aussie flags and boxing kangaroo flags waiting for the start. The team introductions were really cool with lights coloured with each countries colours and stars moving all over the court as the teams ran out to begin their warm-ups. Unfortunately, once the game started our flags didn’t stay out for long as the Aussies were playing so badly and Slovenia just couldn’t miss a shot. They ended up losing 87-58 but it was still good to see the Australian team play. Next up was the home country, Turkey, playing against France. The stadium started to get fuller by the minute after from the end of the Australian/Slovenian game with a sea of people wearing mostly red. It was just a sea of red and from before the Turkey team even came out on to the court it was deafening in the stadium with the chanting, singing, clapping and yelling from the fans. The place quickly filled up and when the Turkish team was lead out onto the court by Hedo Turkoglu (NBA player for the Phoenix Suns) they received one of the biggest cheers I have heard. One of the most moving and amazing things though was when the Turkish National Anthem was played before the start of the game and the 15000 fans were singing along to it. Having the crowd behind them definitely gave them the feel of having an extra played on the court I’m sure. They never stopped cheering throughout the game and whenever the French team got the ball they were greeted with booing, for no other reason than the fact they weren’t Turkey. They were very passionate about their team and country. Turkey went on the win the game 95-77 and barely even needed to use their star players in the last quarter.

The next day I needed some rest as I was still so tired from the night before coming to Istanbul so I rested in the hotel while Mark and Chandy went to check out the main street a bit more and see what they could find. Other than that, it was off to the basketball again that afternoon, this time to see the USA team playing Angola. We knew it wasn’t going to be the most competitive game but it was going to be a great experience seeing the Americans play, even if they didn’t bring their best players with them, and quite probably only had one player that would actually make their first team in Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA). We still saw some amazing plays and spectacular dunks which was to be expected from them. Angola didn’t really have much chance and the USA won the game 121-66. The next game that night was Russia versus New Zealand, so naturally we were going for New Zealand. They got off to a great start and even looked like they would go on to win the game, but after half time, they couldn’t keep it up and Russia ran away with the game, 78-56. The score line was nowhere near deserving of how New Zealand played, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

Our next morning we decided to go out for a walk and see the Grand Bazaar, which is one of the worlds largest covered markets which has 60 streets and over 5000 shops. Granted a lot of them do sell the same things, but that is still a lot. I’m sure we didn’t see it all either and we got lost a few times just wandering through there. I think that it would have been more fun if I had lots of money to spend, but didn’t really want to buy anything so was just looking around, which is a very different experience than being there to shop from what I noticed. Later that afternoon it was back to the basketball stadium for the last two games of the eighth finals. Firstly, Lithuania were playing China, and it became one of the first close games we actually saw. China started off well and took the lead early until Lithuania slowly came back at them behind about 100 of their supporters who made enough noise for 1000! Lithuania finished the game winning 78-67 in what was a good game, but not even close to how good the next game was. Next up was the two South American teams, Argentina and Brazil. Both had some big name players from the NBA, including Luis Scola (Houston Rockets), Carlos Delfino (Milwaukee Bucks) and Fabricio Oberto (Washington Wizards) for Argentina, while Brazil had Leandro Barbosa (Toronto Raptors) and Anderson Varejao (Cleveland Cavaliers). It was a close match all the way through with the scores changing numerous times, but in the end the tournaments leading scorer, Luis Scola, pulled Argentina away to win 93-89 for one of the best wins of the tournament so far.

Our fourth day in Istanbul was our last day of going to the basketball, but the first day of the quarter finals where we were excited to see the Turkish team play again. But before the basketball we went out in the morning to go to the must see Sultanahmet Camii, or the Blue Mosque as it is commonly known, as when the sun shines through some of the stained glass windows at the right angles, it gives off a blue glow inside. From the outside it looks very similar to many of the other mosques in the area, other than the fact that it has six minarets (or towers) whereas most only have up to four. Once inside it was stunning and enormous. The stained glass was beautiful, although we had come at the wrong time to see the blue glow cast throughout. The pillars in the middle were at least 5 metres in diameter, and rose all the way to the roof. The architecture and the fact that structures like this could be built so long ago and are still standing never ceases to amaze me. After seeing inside the mosque we wandered around the area for a while longer before making our last trek out to the basketball stadium. The first game of the quarter finals was Serbia versus Spain, where we got to see Ricky Rubio, the 19 year old star for Spain, as well as NBA players Rudy Fernadez (Portland Trailblazers) and Marc Gasol (Memphis Grizzlies). Ricky Rubio was disappointing but the game was hard fought to the end and a great game to watch and was even better than the Argentina and Brazil game from the night before. Serbia ended up coming out the surprise victor 92-89. Turkey was up against Slovenia in the next game, so naturally we were going for Turkey as Slovenia had beaten Australia, and Turkey was the home country so why go against them. The Turkish fans were even louder than the previous game we saw them and there was even more of them. The stadium was full and Turkey once again started out well and finished the game without needing their star players, winning 95-68. As we left the stadium for the last time, it was all completely lit up out the front, with the whole front of the stadium having lights changing colour of the face of it every few seconds. It looked sensational, but we were unsure why they hadn’t done this every night.

That night we headed across the street to some of Mark and Sam’s Contiki friends hotel and had a few drinks before getting on the bus to head down to the port, where the Fanatics had organised a bar for everyone to go to. The bus didn’t end up going far enough so we had to walk the rest of the way and we didn’t really know where we were going. Luckily we found another guy on the Fanatics tour named Luke who was going there as well and seemed to know where he was going, so we made him our honorary tour leader and off we went. (He claimed he wasn’t too sure where it was either but that didn’t bother us). About half an hour later he got us where we wanted to be and we met up with Kate, Dung and Luke and we even found Ryan there as well. We stayed for a few hours and had a couple of drinks with everyone before deciding to call it a night and make our way back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

The next morning was checkout time and off we went to meet up with Kate, Dung and Luke at their hotel, before we went to find our next hotel for our last night there. The hotel wasn’t far so we walked there, and on the way got to check out some crazy and spectacular buildings in the City of Arts and Science. The buildings were all built to welcome the 21^st century and are all very futuristic looking because of this, as well as each of the buildings being museums of one kind or another. After taking some photos and walking around the buildings we found the others and went off to find our next hotel, and stopping along the way for some breakfast.

When we arrived at the hotel we were offered an upgrade for €2.50 each which got us bigger rooms and a full buffet breakfast which was well worth it. After that it was off to the beach for a day of swimming and relaxing before heading out for dinner in town as a group before Mark, Sam and I made our way back to London and before Luke made his way back to Adelaide. We found a nice place in the Old City which was a 3 course meal for €13. Being in Spain, I had to try Paella, even if it wasn’t the freshest you can get. The food was all really good and we also had some beer and Agua de Valencia, meaning Water of Valencia, which is an alcoholic drink consisting of champagne, orange juice, vodka and gin. It is a very popular cocktail in Valencia and it is understandable as it is very delicious. After dinner there wasn’t much else we wanted to do other than head back to the hotel and relax. Unfortunately the metro we needed to take had stopped running for the night and we could only get some of the way to our hotel. It was only a few stops away so we walked the rest of the way using Google Maps to guide us. We walked through some dodgy looking areas but it was all good and made it back to the hotel about 20 minutes or so later.

Our last day in Valencia we spent down at the beach again, but not for long as it was so windy and ridiculously hot. It was 48 degrees at one point! After the beach it was back to the hotel, as Kate, Dung and Luke were staying another night, where we showered and lay around before saying our goodbyes and going to the airport to fly back to London where Mark, Sam and Sam’s friend Michael were going to Ireland and Scotland the day after so I would have the house to myself for a few days until Chandy would arrive to stay for a couple of nights before our trip to Turkey.

The early night proved to be one of the best decisions as the next morning Shannon and I felt great whereas the others could barely get up, let alone make their way out and onto the bus for the hour or so bus ride to Bunol, where the La Tomatina festival was held. It was about 8am when we arrived in Bunol and off we went walking to get down to where all the action was going to be. It was a long walk and mostly downhill through the small city and there was people everywhere. It was warming up to be a beautiful day as well. Most people had cheap shirts or singlets and board shorts and shoes on as everything was going to get destroyed from what we had been told. (It was true, but more on that later).

Mark, Sam, Shannon, Simone and I finally got down to the bottom of the hill and there was already masses of people around so we started pushing our way through where we found our other friends from the tour, Bec and Ingrid so we decided to stop there and hang out with them. We had also planned to try and find Kate, Dung and Luke but because of the massive crowds and the fact we were on different tours we couldn’t manage to find them. Also the fact we didn’t take any phones or anything with us because otherwise it would be ruined. SO there we were, waiting around at about 8:30 in the morning, and the tomato fight not starting until 11. So what else was there to do but drink sangria of course! There were little shops that lined the street where you could get drinks, so that’s what we did. As we all stood around there was chanting, singing, people climbing balconies, all kinds of things being thrown, and all while the locals looked on from their rooftops and sprayed water down on everyone. They had also cover their houses with shade cloth like mesh to try reduce the effects the tomatoes would have, but I’m sure they would still get covered in the juice to some extent.

It wasn’t until about 9:30-10:00am when the giant pole (about 10 metres high) was brought out and covered in grease and raised with a leg of ham atop it. I’m not sure what the significance of it is, but the idea is that the tomato fight won’t start until someone has climbed to the top of the pole and retrieved the ham, although, after about an hour if no one has reached it, then the festival will start anyway. SO we watched and waited as many people tried to climb to the pole to no avail. Many people would get as high as they can just to get as much grease off the pole for someone else to have a go, and even get shirts thrown up to them to wipe it off. People would climb on others shoulders and then someone on top of their shoulders as well just to try and get as high as possible. Someone eventually got high enough to touch the ham, but for some reason chose not to grab it off the top, instead just falling back to the ground. The funniest thing though was a guy near us who said he was going to climb the pole naked, so as we urged him on to do it, he eventually did, stripping his shorts off and walking the 20-30 metres to the pole naked. We hadn’t seen him climb, but then all of a sudden there he was as we all pointed out, “It’s naked guy!” He didn’t get to the top, but it sure was funny, and he even managed to get a mate to hold his shorts so he didn’t have to go the rest of the day naked.

Eventually, with no one getting the ham, the siren sounded for the start of the tomato fight. So the trucks full of the tomatoes started rolling through to main street. First thing we noticed was the smell. It was disgusting. It was like vomit, but worse. I felt sorry for all the people who still weren’t feeling great from the night before, because if they hadn’t vomited already, I’m sure the smell would have made most of them. It’s no wonder that these tomatoes are only grown for the fight and aren’t good for eating the way they smell that bad. I think that half of them must have been rotten, as there was no other way they could have been THAT bad! The next thing was as the trucks made their way down the street, everyone had to get out of the way of them, which considering we were all already squashed up against each other, and it wasn’t easy. So squish and squish everyone did until there was enough room for the truck to make its way through. Once the trucked passed though, it was a mad rush by everyone to get in behind the truck where all the tomatoes where being shovelled out for everyone to pick up and throw. I dived down there a few times grabbing as many as I could and then launching them into the crowd, and also keeping a few to slam into Mark and Sam’s heads! The trucks continued to go by with the tomatoes, juices and smell all getting worse. In total there were 5 or 6 truckloads of tomatoes come through, and as each one did, the whole crowd would move out the way and then back to where they were as one. It was difficult just to stay on our feet! The people sitting on the top of the trucks and dumping loads of tomatoes on you didn’t help either, but luckily, after each truck went through, there was water cannons shooting water over everyone and because of this we came out of it reasonably clean after each truck passed. It was just mayhem and I ended up losing everyone but then eventually found Sam and Simone again before the last truck came through.

Getting out was another battle in itself as we stood there ankles deep in tomato juice and whoever knows what else, surrounded by people, barely able to move or even lift our arms up to throw tomatoes. We kept an eye out for the others we were with but couldn’t see them anywhere so we started moving with the crowd making our way back up the main street. It took us nearly 45 minutes to get back to the main square, which wasn’t all that far away, there were just that many people. As we were making our way back there were locals at the front of their houses or hanging off their balconies with hoses washing people off. So we managed to get a few quick hose downs and kept moving. Once in the main square we decided to ditch our shoes, wash ourselves off a bit more then keep making our way back to the bus. By the time we got there we were completely dried out and all stunk like tomatoes. So it was back onto the bus like that and we were on our way back to Valencia, where most of us just slept all the way back.

Thanks to sleep, it felt like we were back at the hotel in no time and it was straight to the shower. We all felt disgusting and couldn’t wait to get the tomato juice off and washed from our hair. My hair felt horrible, and I could barely even get my hand through it because it was soaked with so much tomato and juice. I had to wash it about 3 times, and I think I ended up showering about 4 times before going to bed that night. After that we headed up stairs to the rooftop pool to chill out before heading out again that night. We sat around the pool with other Aussies telling our stories from the morning and was interesting hearing everyone else accounts from different places throughout the main street.

Mark, Sam and I were leaving for Valencia in Spain in the next few days, and Kate Dung and Luke leaving the day after that so we relaxed a bit at home and didn’t get up to much. Other than that, Troy arrived in London and came to stay with us for a bit before he was going on his own travels then meeting Kate and Dung in Barcelona after we had been to Valencia.

So it was off to Valencia, and it was to be expected to be one of the craziest things for La Tomatina, which is the world’s biggest tomato fight, but no one knew exactly how crazy and intense it would be. Mark, Sam and I arrived on the Monday, and just had a relaxing day on the beach, after walking about an hour and trying to find it from our hotel. The weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, and about 38 degrees. The water was even better, so warm and just nice to lay around in it. It was amazing. So we spent the afternoon laying on the beach and relaxing in the water until about 5.30 when we were starting to get a bit burnt and headed back to the hotel. After we got back the temperature kept rising, and got up to 44 degrees, and this was at about 7pm that night! We had a buffet dinner at the hotel then just relaxed in the room and had an early night to be up the next day to go to our next hotel with the Fanatics for the La Tomatina tour.

We didn’t have to check in to the next hotel until 2pm, and luckily our checkout wasn’t until 12pm, so we left it until then, and then off we went to find the Holiday Inn where we were staying with the Fanatics Tour Group. Once we got there, we got our Fanatics T-shirt and sunglasses then made the way to our room. Later that night we were making our way into town with the rest of the Fanatics to hit up a few bars and clubs. We got the earliest bus into the city and met some other cool people on the tour. In total there were about 1200 people on the Fanatics tour and everyone had their yellow Fanatics shirts on that night. Walking through the city of Valencia all you could see was a sea of yellow. The first place we went to was a bar called Fox Congo. It wasn’t too busy when we got there, in fact there was no one there but the staff, so we quickly changed that with our group and it only got busier and fuller with more yellow shirts throughout the night. We also went to another bar, a lot bigger and more like a club, but I forget the name of it. It wasn’t as good so after one drink there, we headed to the next bar that the Fanatics were going to. This was worse than the last one and was only about 5 people in there, so we left. I went with our new friend Shannon to get our second kebab for the night and after we sat down and ate it we headed back to Fox Congo to try and find the others. We had no luck, and being it was after midnight, and we had to be up bright and early the next day, and the last bus back to the hotel was at 1am, we decided to make our way back and get a decent night’s sleep.