Turkey Guide
Around the Sea of Marmara
The Gelibolu peninsula
Burdened with a grim military history but endowed with some fine scenery and beaches, the slender Gelibolu (Gallipoli) peninsula – roughly 60km in length and between 4km and 18km wide – forms the northwest side of the Dardanelles (Çanakkale Boğazı in Turkish, the ancient Hellespont), the narrow strait connecting the Aegean with the Sea of Marmara. Whether you approach the peninsula from Şarköy or (more likely) KeŞan, the road there is pretty, swooping down in long arcs past the Saros gulf.
Site of the 1915 Gallipoli landings by the Allied troops, the peninsula contains a mind-numbing series of battlefields and cemeteries that tell of the tragic defeat by the Turkish forces. For Turks the region also holds a great deal of significance, as the Gallipoli campaign made famous a previously unknown lieutenant-colonel, Mustafa Kemal, later to become Atatürk.
Practicalities
The open-air sites have no admission fees or restricted hours. Tours of the northern sites (including the Kabatepe Information Centre) depart from Gelibolu, Eceabat and Çanakkale, and cost between €25–35 per person, depending on the number of tourists around.
You can also make independent visits to the sites in the northern and southern parts of the peninsula by a combination of short minibus rides and walking. Minibuses run from Gelibolu to Kilitbahir via Eceabat, from Eceabat to Kabatepe village and, less frequently, from Eceabat to Alçitepe via the Kabatepe Information Centre; there's also a sporadic service from Kilitbahir to Seddülbahir. From the Kabatepe Information Centre, you can walk around the main sites to the north inside a couple of hours. At Kilitbahir, minibuses meet the Çanakkale car ferries in summer and take passengers to Alçitepe and Seddülbahir, from where you can tour the surrounding cemeteries and memorials on foot. They also ferry passengers to the Turkish memorial (Çanakkale Abidesi in Turkish).
Gelibolu – principal town of the peninsula and 35km north of the main battlefield sites – is a moderately inviting, if slightly windy, place perched just where the Dardanelles begin to narrow in earnest.
The ferry jetty is right at the inner harbour entrance; ferries cross at 3am, 5am, 6.30am, 7.30am and 8.30am, then on the hour from 9am–1am (2YTL, or 8YTL per car) to Lapseki, across the Dardanelles. The otogar is 500m out of town on the Eceabat road. Currently, Gelibolu has no tourist office or exchange office, though both occasionally do reopen for business. However, all the main banks have ATMs and most will change currency and travellers' cheques, as will the PTT kiosk next to the ferry terminal.
For accommodation, a short walk up the main street, Liman Caddesi, and then uphill along TaŞçılar Caddesi, brings you to the OtelDilmaç ( 
0286/566 3212, 
566 3435; Price: €14-24), whose garish pink facade hides well-appointed rooms with TVs and minibars. There's an interesting display of brass ship-fittings in the lobby of the Hotel Oya on Miralay Şeflik Aker Caddesi, the next street left off Liman Caddesi ( & 0286/566 0392; Price: €25-31): the rooms here are very clean, with TV and fridge, though those at the front with a balcony are twice the size of those at the back. Between the lighthouse and an army camp extends a serviceable beach, with a free campsite operated by the local municipality. The unprepossessing, old-fashioned Hotel Yılmaz ( 0286/566 1256, 566 3598; Price: €25-31), on Liman Caddesi, should be considered as a last resort to stay in, of merit only really for its daily tours of the World War I sites (about 25YTL, including taped commentary and an evening video showing of Peter Weir's Gallipoli).
When eating out, don't miss the local catch of freshly grilled sardalya (sardines), at the excellent Imren, to the left of the harbour, which is both cheap and licensed, or the similar Liman and Boğaz restaurants next door. Expect to pay 15–20YTL for starters, fish and drinks at each of these.