Bodrum, Turkey

Still in the eastern Aegean Sea, and travelling north-east from Rhodes, we visited Bodrum in Turkey. According to our guide Demir, Bodrum is the Turkish Riviera. It's the ultimate holiday destination for locals.

It seemed really pleasant to us visitors too. We set off for a walk down the promenade and along the nearest beaches to find a Turkish coffee.

While I was pottering around, not only did Ken find an excellent Turkish coffee, he also found a young waitress who helped him find the local wifi. Success!

Not so many cats here, but plenty of very large dogs. Apparently these are Kangal shepherd dogs — livestock guardian dogs.

Wait, you say. That castle looks familiar. Are we in Rhodes or Bodrum? Greece or Turkey? Well spotted, you! The Knights Hospitaller/Knights of St John didn't only occupy the island of Rhodes, they also meandered up the coastline and built their fortifications on the mainland in Bodrum.

But before we get tangled up in medieval and Byzantine stories, a tiny bit of much more ancient history. Halicarnassus was the old name for Bodrum and yes, this was the site of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, built in the 4th century BC and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It no longer exists, just as the Colossus of Rhodes no longer exists, but Mausolus, whose tomb it was, would be pleased to know that his name lives on in the splendid word 'mausoleum' (which we all use frequently, right?). We saw the model below in the castle.

Halicarnassus was ruled by the Greeks, the Persians and the Romans before the Knights arrived in 1402. Our guide Demir took us to the ancient Greek-Roman theatre near Bodrum. Built in the 4th century BC, it's called the Theatre at Halicarnassus and what I liked about it immensely is (a) the view and (b) that it's used frequently for modern performances. They were setting up for a musician that night.

The excavation of the theatre started in 1976; in 1985 it stopped because the government ministry ran out of money. So these splendid ancient blocks have stayed in this position since then.

As I said earlier, Bodrum is a popular seaside resort. It has a population of about 200,000. Demir told us (speaking as a Turk and a resident of Bodrum) that Turks are free-spirited, impetuous and spontaneous people, who dislike planning ahead. Typically, at the start of a long weekend, two million Turks decide that they'll travel to Bodrum for the holiday. They hop in their cars, travel from Istanbul or Anakara or wherever, and arrive in Bodrum with no accommodation booked. The roads then become completely gridlocked as people try to find somewhere to stay. Eventually, according to Demir, they give up, drive into the hills surrounding Bodrum, sleep in their cars, take a selfie or two to prove they were in Bodrum, and return home.

This is the famous equestrian statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. A terrible photo, but I was determined to capture it.

Turkey's famous wooden sailing vessels called gulets are in full and enticing view in the port of Bodrum. We were advised to consider a gulet trip for our next holiday: the crew takes care of the sailing, and all you have to do is enjoy your personal cruise! The Turkish word keyif means to do nothing happily, and I reckon a gulet cruise would be just that.

And we're back on the subject of the Crusaders. The Knights of St John/Knights Hospitaller built the Castle of St Peter (now called Bodrum Castle) in the 1400s. Apparently it's built on the site of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and used some of the materials from it. It was the last Crusader castle to fall to the Ottoman Turks in the 1500s.

The castle has four towers known as the English, French, German and Italian towers. Each nation (members of the Knights Hospitaller) built their own tower. Aided by local workers, of course, who were guaranteed a reservation in heaven by a Papal Decree of 1409. Hmmm.

Each tower has the emblem of the Knights who built it.

As I learned in Rhodes, the Knights were organised by langue, or tongue. Each langue was responsible for maintaining and defending a part of the castle, and making sure there were enough soldiers to repel hostile forces, typically from the Ottoman Empire.

The chapel was built around 1407. When the castle was taken over by the Ottoman Empire in the 1500s, the chapel was converted to a mosque and a minaret was added in later years. I can't tell you anything about the skeleton, unfortunately, other than it is indeed a skeleton below the chapel floor.

It's a strenuous climb to the top of the castle, up winding stairs (to confuse invaders) that are now weathered and uneven. But the climb is worth every huff and puff. The views from the top of the castle are stunning.

Bodrum Castle is not just a castle. Sure, you can explore the castle's history, and exhibits about the Knights, but there's soooo much more. It's a museum, but it's a museum with so many aspects.

For example, there's a fascinating exhibit in one area of the castle called the Carian princess. In 1989 workmen uncovered the tomb of a woman who was clearly of high status: (a) she had good teeth and (b) she was buried with gold jewellery. The gold circlet/crown is beautiful. The University of Manchester was asked to facially reconstruct the skull, and this is what this woman looked like. Her identity remains unknown, but she is believed to be either Queen Ada I who ruled Halicarnassus about 2400 years ago, or one of Ada's family. Hedging bets, this woman is called the Carian princess — Ancient Caria was the region in western Anatolia (now part of Turkey) around Bodrum.

But wait, the museum itself tells it best. I love the last sentence.

https://www.bodrum-museum.com/carian-princess-exhibit/

Another exhibit in the castle is the display of objects from a Bronze Age (c. 3000 BC) necropolis. Egypt had built its pyramids by this time and it was all happening in the Mediterranean ... the Minoan civilisation in Crete and then a little later, Greece and Turkey. People were buried in large jars, accompanied by objects that would be useful to them in the afterlife.

Don't you love the hedgehog? Its label describes it as a 'porcupine-shaped aryballos', but anyone can see it's an 'edgehog! An aryballos is a small round flask with a narrow neck used to hold perfume or oil.

As good as this all is, I've left the best till now. In 1962 the Turkish Government decided to turn one part of the castle into a museum for the underwater discoveries of ancient shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea. So many ships have been wrecked in the Aegean Sea over so many centuries that the region is a treasure trove for maritime archaeology. Statues, altars, old pottery jars (amphorae) and stone olive presses fill the courtyards outside as well as in display rooms inside. The museum holds a huge collection of amphorae, which people were using as far back as Neolithic times.

The collection of anchors is impressive — not just the more familiar metal anchors, but also the much older stone anchors that were tied to rope. Sailors learned that tying rope through three holes was more secure than one ...

A number of shipwrecks have been fully excavated; one is from the Byzantine period in the 7th century AD. Objects from the Byzantine shipwreck include household/kitchen equipment, amphorae, glass objects from the 5th century AD (antiques!) ...

... and religious objects including this bronze octagonal censer. Read the information for the display, and you'll find that the censer had practical, secular uses as well. Personally I love its feet.

From the same shipwreck comes one of the largest and oldest steelyard balances, a balance around a central lever used to weigh goods.

The Uluburun shipwreck (14th century BC) was carrying 10 tons of Cypriot copper ingots, one ton of pure tin ingots,150 glass ingots, manufactured goods, Mycenaean pottery, Egyptian seals (with a seal of queen Nefertiti), hippo and elephant tusks, and more! A veritable cornucopia of exotic goods was traversing the Mediterranean ocean.

The copper ingots in the third photo are shaped in that specific way to make them easier to carry. The person loading these tons of copper just had to lift up and hold the ingot around the curved edges — a bit like tucking a handbag under your arm.

The fact that ostrich eggs survived a shipwreck and were underwater for centuries is a tribute to the bird.

The Museum of Underwater Archaeology has an Amphora Exhibition, where examples of amphorae from all over the region (world!) are displayed. Amphorae were used to transport olive oil, olives, wine, grain, nuts ... you can see from the previous set of photos how the amphorae were packed tightly into ships. The design of amphorae is intended specifically to facilitate mass transportation and to prevent breakage in shipwrecks. Which worked, it seems.

How do historians know where amphorae come from? Potters stamped their amphorae with a symbol. If it came from Rhodes, the amphora had a rose stamped on its handle. From other places, a bull or a crab. The single photo that I've included of the labels is misleading; this was only a tiny section of the whole display.

And finally, in the museum, the Glasswreck. No, the ship wasn't made of glass (although I was in such awe that I'd have believed anything by that point). The ship carried over 3 tons of glass cullet, a mixture of broken glass and raw glass. It sailed around 1025 AD from the Syrian coast, headed for a glass factory in the Byzantine empire — probably the Crimean area (Ukraine/Russia). Unfortunately for everyone concerned the ship was totally unsuitable for its task: too small, too flat-bottomed, not enough sails. It didn't get very far and sank on the coast of southern Turkey.

Archaeologists have tried to re-assemble some of the glass objects (third photo). What a task, sorting those 3 tons of glass pieces ... They've found that even when they can find all the bits, the glass object itself is imperfect or misshapen — which is exactly why the objects were rejected and broken in the first place!

I can't recommend this museum highly enough, even if you're not a history or a museum fan. Put the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology on your bucket list. Now.

And so back out into the streets of modern Bodrum. This is a wonderful place to visit. In fact, put Bodrum on your bucket list. I'd go back tomorrow. The sun, the food, the beaches, the history ... just wonderful.

We had such an enjoyable time, partly at least because we had no expectations. We didn't know anything about it, other than it was in Turkey. Do you know anyone who's been to Bodrum? We didn't. So the whole city was a fresh, wonderful, delightful revelation.

And I bought the best lokum I have ever eaten from a lokum stall in the bazaar.

* https://www.julie-anne.online/post/rhodes