Iberostar official blog where we can meet and decide our next travel destination
Header

Gallipoli & The Loss of Innocence

marzo 27th, 2012 | Posted by Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in The View - (0 Comments)

Destroyed buildings around Gallipoli

Gallipoli The Movie

Ask most Americans to think of famous actors in a war movie and their thought will immediately turn to Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan or Ben Affleck in Pearl Harbor. Ask the same question to the average Australian and they will be almost unanimous in naming Mel Gibson for his role as Frank Dunne in the classic movie Gallipoli. Indeed despite the movies Mel Gibson had starred in before the release of Gallipoli, many consider this to be the film that made him an A list star.

The 1981 film by Peter Weir is set against the backdrop of the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, in which around 100,000 men were killed including many from Australia and New Zealand. The sacrifice of those involved in the terror of the Turkish trenches is commemorated each day on April 25th, known across Australia and New Zealand as ANZAC Day.

From Innocence to War

The story begins in western Australia and centres on two young men and how they went to war. Archie is an innocent young man who is greatly influenced by his uncle’s reading of the Jungle Book. He decides that just as it was time for Mowgli to leave the wolves who raised him and make his own way in the big bad world, so he too needed to become a man and fight in the military. He meets Frank at an athletics carnival and they travel together to Perth to enlist for military service.

Their journey takes them through exotic Cairo where the young men live it up in the bars and brothels of the city before being dispatched to the hellish scenes of Gallipoli in Turkey. The scenes vividly portray the brutality of trench warfare, with the two men fighting desperately for the Allies while seeing death and destruction pile up around them.

Ironically none of the scenes were shot in Turkey, with all of the battle sequences carefully recreated in South Australia. Only the scenes at the Pyramids and in the bazaars were filmed in Egypt.

Go to Turkey today and you’ll find that the battlefields at Gallipolli provide a sombre but highly recommended visit for those wishing to learn more about the history of the bloody battle fought here almost 100 years ago. From Antalya resort and all along the holiday coast you’ll find excursions that take visitors to the scenes of the 1915 battle and allow them to pay their respects to the fallen and get a glimpse of how difficult life would have been for the troops in 1915.

The trenches have long gone but the sacrifices made by the young men in battle make this a hugely important places to visit for those whose ancestors fought and paid the ultimate price.

Photo:  By NA (Turkish General Staff)

, , , , , , , ,

Mel Gibson and the Mayan Ruins of the Yucatan

septiembre 14th, 2011 | Posted by Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in The View - (0 Comments)

Mayan Ruins Yucatan
When Mel Gibson created and directed the movie Apocalypto in 2006 he wanted to bring to the big screen the story of the Maya civilization and how it came to fall. Along with his team he traveled far and wide throughout Mexico and Central America, visiting many of the Maya ruins in the Yucatan peninsula and beyond in order to best understand how people lived in that era and how such a mighty culture allowed itself to fall from greatness.

The movie depicts a society that displayed both ingenuity and brutality. The building skills and medical knowledge of the Maya were highly advanced, though after their fall did not really progress until after the European conquest. The use of human sacrifices and ritual killings on the other hand betrays a culture where life could be cut short at any moment; even the ball game resulted in the loser often being sacrificed.

Mayan Ruins, Up Close

Gibson went to great lengths in his search for authenticity and he would no doubt have been helped by the huge mass of research that has been carried out in trying to unearth the Maya’s secrets. As visitors to this region we can learn about the lives of the Maya in a surprisingly accessible way at any of the major sites. In the Yucatan peninsula, for example, visitors can explore the ruins at Chichen Itza or Tulum and see first hand how the society built its living quarters and places of social importance such as ball courts and temples.

Interpretative displays and on-site museums provide valuable insights into the lives of the residents of these ancient cities at the time of their greatest influence, while selected archaeological findings allow visitors to see the utensils and decorations that were used over a thousand years ago.

Both Tulum and Chichen Itza are easily accessible from the main coastal resorts, with Tulum lying on the eastern Yucatan coast just south of Playa del Carmen and Chichen Itza about an hour inland of this. Both can be seen in a very rushed day but to give them the time they deserve and to allow ample opportunity to explore these very different sites, a day at each is highly recommended.

Watching the movie Apocalypto before heading to Mexico to visit these Maya sites will add depth to your experience. Watch the movie after your visit and you might question some of Gibson’s direction!

Photo | Andy Jarosz

, , , , ,