By Margaret Sheard….
Despatches ; Day 5 – 24th September 2012
So now we are in Izmir and almost ready for the return trip home to 
North Cyprus. We got up and had a leisurely breakfast, packed our luggage which the hotel had agreed to store for us until we were ready to depart, and we then had some free time to explore Izmir.
We ambled off and walked for a while along the main road adjacent to the sea front and came to the start of the town centre where we found a lovely covered market with many clothes shops and stalls and some real bargains. We walked through this area and of course I couldn’t resist buying a couple of items at the ridiculously low prices and then we came upon quite a narrow street with extremely interesting shops on either side and this seemed to be where everyone aimed for as it was very busy.
By this time at the end of the trip we were
feeling very tired and achy so did not explore too far but I did notice a very interesting clock tower in a large square. On heading back to the market area for a cool drink I spotted a camera shop and thought why not treat myself to a more upmarket model, so in I went and came away with a new much more versatile camera. In fact the assistant was rather amused at my current camera which he said was at least 6 years behind the times.
We wandered into the covered market again for a cool drink at one of the many café areas and then back to the hotel where we retrieved our luggage and had a coffee waiting for the other members of the group to return and for the coach to take us on our final leg to the airport. We said farewell for our driver, Condon Candan, and 
tour guide, Taner Tűlcűoğlu who had been excellent throughout the tour.
We had been advised that there had been a change in our travel arrangements and it meant flying to Istanbul and then catching another flight from there to North Cyprus. This was a little bit disconcerting but eventually resulted in an arrival time only approximately 3-4 hours later than the original itinerary.
So, apart from the hiccup with the return travel arrangements, everything else went according to plan and we saw and experienced everything we had anticipated on this trip to Gallipoli and Troy. I have a friend who refers to a “bucket” list, that is everything she wants to do before she “kicks th
e bucket”. I have also adopted this list and I can now cross off Gallipoli and Troy, although I think I would like to make another visit, especially to Gallipoli where there is so much to see and maybe on this trip there was not quite enough time.
Many thanks to the Royal British Legion, Kyrenia Branch, for this excellent trip.
By Chris Elliott
Sharing this trip with Margaret, I have been taking many photographs and carrying out a lot of research to give these despatches more depth and enjoyment for the reader through the use of web page shots and also videos.
Having visited Troy and Gallipoli together have we both have learned a lot and also through experiences, formed an understanding of what the past life of others may have been like. Its very scary but also uplifting when you encounter the good side of life.
For anyone wanting to go to Gallipoli, I would suggest that 3/4 days spent there would enable you to see so much more and I think we may go back again someday.
In the slideshow below I have included some more pictures from our last day in Canakkale.
To see more of the RBL trip to Gallipoli and Troy see:- Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4
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