Leave your centrally located Istanbul hotel in the early morning by air-conditioned coach. Then, relax on route to the infamous Gallipoli Peninsula, the site of one of the bloodiest military campaigns of WWI. As you travel, hear hard-hitting facts from your guide about the failed Allied land campaign that began in April 1915 with landings of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). The ANZACs were expected to beat back Ottoman Turkish forces and capture Istanbul — known then as Constantinople — to help struggling Russian forces. By January 1916, however, the campaign was over, and Allied troops evacuated, with a believed total loss on both sides of 100,000 lives.

After about 5 hours, arrive at Gallipoli for your guided tour of its key sites. Visit ANZAC Cove, the beach of the 25th April landings, and The Nek, the scene of a tragic Australian attack. Spend time, too, at Johnston’s Jolly, where the original Turkish and Allied trenches still stand.

You’ll also view the haunting memorials that remember the dead. Visit the poignant Australian Lone Pine Cemetery and Memorial engraved with the names of nearly 5,000 soldiers, and see the New Zealand Memorial at Chunuk Bair, the site of a heroic New Zealander stand in August 1915.