We’re just staying in the town of Canakkale today. There are tours to Gallipoli or Troy, and we could have rented a car, but we decided we weren’t that interested in either, so we are taking the shuttle into town and wandering. Out on the dock, we look around for the shuttle, but it is cold and sort of rainy and there is not a single soul around to help. There is some little van/bus thing a ways down the dock, so we head there. Turns out it is the shuttle – and we’re the only people on it! Private shuttle. Lovely.

A quick 15 minute ride into town, we’re deposited in front a park on the main road down to the waterfront. Easy to remember. Taking a picture of the shuttle schedule – just to ensure we know when to be back – we head off into the sleepy little town. Canakkale is a sweet little local town, but, it’s Sunday and, well, beginning to pour rain! It quickly becomes a soggy, wet, sleepy little sweet town – which in other circumstances would have been fun to wander around and shop. 

But that isn’t happening today. We are heading toward the Military Museum (the only one open on a Sunday) when the skies open up. Luckily we find this cute little cafe, Mr. Koala, to dive into for a cappuccino and a roof over our heads. It really is a shame it is so icky and Sunday – it is really cheap here because of the exchange rate. Our 2 cappuccino costs only $2.69 USD – total. That’s the cheapest cappuccino we’ve had yet.

The rain starts to slacken, and we make our way out to walk the 2 or 3 blocks to the museum. The rest of the town may be sleepy, but this place is rocking. There are tons of people here -mostly kids as it seems there are a couple of large groups of local kids here – on tour maybe? Don’t know – it’s a little odd on a Sunday, but since the museum is inside the large Cimenlik Castle grounds, it is easy to avoid the masses.

We spend a good amount of time wandering around the grounds here, looking at the different memorials, the views across the Dardanelle Strait and the old military weaponry strewn about the park like courtyard, including the net huge anchors that held the steel nets across the strait so that Allied submarines couldn’t pass through during the battles.

There are a couple of interesting displays inside some rather small rooms in the castle, and a really cool little dungeon type area where arms were stored that you can walk through. Keeps us out of the wet and misty weather at least.

One of the most interesting things is the big hole in the castle wall where a cannonball from the Queen Elizabeth was fired and lodged in the wall. The picture doesn’t do it justice – it was really a wild thing though.

Fun and fascinating, but over far too quickly. It is barely 10:30am and most everything is closed. We have directions to the Aynali Carsi Bazaar, which is supposed to be the most important touristic places in town – but when we get there, it is really just a little short bazaar with not much besides trinkets. There are tons of restaurants around, we even find Sardunya, which we had on our list but which Alper also told us to try! He said it was the best restaurant in town – but when we arrive, even though they are opening up, the menu is all in Greek – not a work in English. We can decipher that it is all seafood priced by weight but since we don’t have Alper with us to translate, we decide to pass on this, even though he highly recommended it.

So, you know? Back to the shuttle we go – no sense staying here – and there is a whole ship at our disposal. Stopping briefly at McDonald’s for the restroom, and the obligatory coffee we must buy to access the restroom – but that only costs .26 USD cents – we decide we do have enough time before the shuttle to go see one last thing here in Canakkale – the Trojan Horse used in the 2004 movie Troy. This horse is a sight to behold – that is for certain! It is huge, all wood and stands very proudly on the seafront promenade. And if you weren’t familiar with the legend, there is also a very detailed and informative sign giving information on the horse and Troy.

Now it is back to the shuttle – no longer private with 4 others aboard, 2 of whom aren’t wearing masks and are coughing and sniffling – lord help us all. A couple of nice pictures of a mosque later, and we arrive at the ship, jumping off that shuttle as fast as possible while Pureling every exposed surface on our faces and hands that we can, and onto a nice afternoon chilling out on the ship.

Lunch. Laundry. Hang out on the balcony under cover when it rains. Gym, dinner, show – a singer guest performer (who we heard rehearsing earlier) from New Zealand. She is wonderful, sings tons of different songs from popular to jazz to opera to Bert Bachrach.

Then balcony, then bed. Nice little relaxing day in the middle of all our explorations.