West coast, Turkey.

We traveled quickly up the west coast with just one overnight in Izmir, Turkey’s 3rd largest city, and one night in much smaller Kuşadasi. Kuşadasi is near to Ephesus, a Turkey must-visit, though we liked Hierapolis just as much or more.

Greek mythology is part of 6th grade curriculum, so with our travel to this area we read the book Percy Jackson and watched the 1997 TV miniseries, The Odyssey. The ancient city of Troy is nearby, and we hoped to go, but the ruins aren’t much to see, plus it was expensive. And, the horse was being renovated so even the photo op was off the table.

From Çanakkale (chana-KALL-a) we ferried toward the Gallipoli battlefield site.

In New Zealand at a Te Papa museum exhibit and in Australia at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, we learned about ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) troops. They were summoned by the British in WWI and fought against the Turks in Gallipoli peninsula. We hiked a beautiful trail on Gallipoli on a beautiful day. Though sobering to walk the battleground soil, it gave shape to this history lesson we’d learned.