Gallipoli

Looking out over the rugged hills swathed in pine forest, sandy beaches and turquoise seas of the Gallipoli Peninsula , there is little clue today of the strife and turmoil that have beset this thin strip of land for thousands of years.

This strategic isthmus has been contested by the Greeks, Persians, Romans, Huns, British and Russians in its time but it is the cataclysmic events of the first world war that have seared it into the modern consciousness.

During eight months of struggle between Australian, New Zealand, British and French forces and Ottoman defenders, over 500,000 soldiers lost their lives and today the Gallipoli Peninsula Historical Site is home to moving memorials, graveyards, and commemorations in their honour.

Perhaps the most moving of the Anzac cemeteries is Lone Pine. The site of an intense and bloody confrontation where over 4,000 men died in one afternoon. The tombstones, often carrying moving tributes to the young men interred here, are watched over by a single pine, planted from the seed of the original solitary tree, which gave the battlefield its name.

With its moving First World War sites, myriad archaeological treasures and its spectacular scenery, a visit to Gallipoli is a fascinating and moving experience.