Bodrum

So time to see if I can get a little of the cruise out before I head down under.  We joined the ship of course at Piraeus (Athens).  I did get my only glimpse of the Acropolis from the coach on the way to the port from the airport, but no more than that.  We had a day at sea, and then our first shore day was as far east as we got, in Bodrum.  This is the first time I've ever been to Turkey, and it would have been nice - as usual on cruise days - to have longer there.  But a glimpse is better than nothing.  We heard a couple of Americans discussing Bodrum in the bar later that afternoon, when we went up there for a nice quiet cocktail during the sail away.  It seemed that there was nothing there worth seeing, and they couldn't possibly recommend to friends that they visited.  Apparently the only port they have stopped at that was worse than this was Genoa.  I can't comment on Genoa, but here are my best glimpses of Bodrum.

We began at the Castle of St.Peter.  Standing on a peninsular overlooking the harbour, this largely dates to the Knights of St.John and the crusades, although it was built on the site of an earlier castle I think.  Much of the stone came from..... elsewhere - more later.  There are 249 coats of arms scattered round the castle, dating back to these times.  You'll be pleased to hear I didn't photograph all of them  There is now a museum of underwater archaeology housed in the castle.

View from our balcony!  (With the theatre behind)

3 of the 249!

And another 2

 

We love the way you keep catching glimpses during shore days

 

The museum had lots of amphorae

I mean LOTS

Let me repeat.....

These were presented to show how they would have been loaded and transported

Reproduction of an eastern Roman (Byzantine) ship, dating to 7th century AD, wrecked nearby

They had a large display of amazing glassware found in various shipwrecks in the area

Uluburun shipwreck - 15th century BC!! - showing how it was found

Found on the Uluburun wreck (I think)

Wax tablet found on the Bronze Age wreck - this was the "luxury" version

How the tablet would have looked

More amphorae!!

The "glass wreck", 11th century AD, with amphorae found in it. Approx 25% of actual structure remained

There were lots more exciting halls in the Castle, including a dungeon (that we didn't see), a Turkish Baths (that we didn't see), a mass burial of galley slaves (with their feet still fettered), and we got to go inside one of the towers - the "English" Tower.  There are also the French and Italian Towers, but they aren't open.

After the excitement of the Castle, we went on to the mausoleum.  That is The Mausoleum.  Bodrum was the ancient city of Halicarnassus, and the Mausoleum was one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World.  It was the tomb of King Maussollos - hence the word.  Surprise, surprise, there is not a lot to see now - it was eventually destroyed by earthquake, after standing for an amazing 1500 years, and the stones were used all over the place after.  Including the Castle.

Close up of the tomb chamber remains

I think it's amazing anything remains today!  From here we headed to the old theatre, up on the hill behind the town.  (If you looked carefully you will have seen it in the photo I took across the harbour, behind the Castle.)

Still in use today!

You can see how the stone seats have been carved in a curve

The next (and final) stop was one of the city gates, the Myndus Gate.  Not a lot remaining, but wuth a little imagination you could see how it must have been.  The road passing through this section of the walls went further out along the peninsular to the city of Myndus.  One of the gate towers here has actually survived to almost its full height, whilst one (there were originally 3) has completely vanished.  These were built in the 4th century BC, and were the site of one of the battles when Alexander the Great took the city, amazing.

Part of Maussollus' 7km long city walls

This was our final stop (barring a visit to a gold company - incredible but we resisted the temptation) before returning to the ship.  We visited a very useful little shop at the port, where we bought very yummy baclava and new sunglasses for me - I keep forgetting to remove them when taking photos, and then the bridge pieces break; replacements are a single moulded piece, not little floating nose rests, so we'll avoid that happening again for a while.

And all of this leaves the big question - were the Americans right?

We didn't think so.