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Published: December 2nd 2022
Our next stop on our itinerary was the coastal town of Bodrum. Yes, this is a place we could get to by water, but when we looked at places nearby to visit for a few days from Marmaris, we decided we’d tour this area now due to ease of getting there. As always, the 4 ½ hour bus trip provided us another lovely view of the landscape in this area of the country. We definitely wish that our bus travel in the US would be as comfortable as it is here with its less crowded seating and even a service of beverages and a snack on the way. The price for bus travel here makes it a very reasonable way to get around and you can easily book the tickets on line.
We wound up finding a lovely hotel, Hotel Centro, that included breakfast in the price and had comfortable rooms and a nice pool (we didn’t take advantage of the pool this time). The real plus here was the staff that made you feel very welcome and almost like family taking an interest in each individual that stayed here. It was noticeable that there were many returning visitors and
we can understand why.
From what we read; it sounded as if there would be enough to keep us busy for a few days so booked 4 nights here. We arrived about 5pm, so the first order of business was to take a walk over to the waterfront area to get a lay of the area, take in the night atmosphere and find a place to eat. It is always nice to see the area lit up at night. It also gave us a first glimpse of the Bodrum Castle which is on our agenda to see while here. The castle should be interesting to learn about itself, but looking forward to visiting the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archeology which is housed in the castle as it has received excellent reviews. It is closed on Mondays, so will have to save that for Tuesday. This gave us Monday to explore a little farther afield. In looking at the map, I noticed that there was a historic site to see on the way to a neighboring beach on the next bay over so our tentative plans were set for Monday. We found the Myndos Gate which is the only surviving
part of the 7 km (4.4 miles long) wall around the ancient city of Halicarnassus. It was built in the 4
th C. BC and from here you can still see some of the remains of where the wall once stood. We explored the area around the gate some, then continued on our walk toward Gumbet Beach. Of course, what we didn’t see on the map was the climb up one side and down the other to the beach area – a good way to stretch our legs!
While walking the beach we could see that there were remains of windmills up on the ridge between the two bays. Not knowing too much about them, Bob turned to me and said, I bet you want to climb up there to see them! I told him we didn’t need to, but in the end as I never like to go back the same route in order to see something new, we found that our only other option was, guess what – head up close to the windmills. As Bob says, we always seem to do our “climbing” in the middle of the day when it is the hottest always reminding him
of the song made popular by Noel Coward talking of, “only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun” – (no disrespect to all our British friends!) and we then always add, “and of course us too!”
The views from the ridge where the remains of the windmill stand, were spectacular as you were able to view both bays here in Bodrum. We learned that the windmills were built in the 18
th C. and they were last used in the 1970’s. I’m sure it would be a great place to see the sunrises and sunsets, but we were definitely not going to wait around for that and just enjoy the views that we were provided.
With it being such a hot day, we did stop for a cold beer when we over near the beach – we had to chuckle that even though the beer was the same, they specifically said they would give me a female glass and Bob a male glass – didn’t realize that they existed (check out the photos!)
We knew that we would be spending the day at the Bodrum Castle so the next morning we got going early to
be there when they opened. It works out nice when we can do that as we also usually beat the crowds that seem to arrive later in the day. The Order of St. John Knights of Rhodes started to build the Castle of St. Peter in 1402 and finished it in the late 15
th C. It has 4 towers, the English, French, German and Italian, named for the nations that built them. In 1523 the Islamic Ottoman Empire conquered the castle and held it for 400 years. There had been a chapel located here, but a minaret was added to convert it into a mosque. By 1895, the Ottoman Empire did not have much need of this location as a castle (fort) so it was converted into a prison. After WWII it was empty and in the early 1960’s, the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archeology was housed here.
After wandering around the grounds of the castle and viewing many of the 249 remaining coats of arms that are located on the walls, seeing the numerous gravestones and altars, numerous anchors and the wandering peacocks, we made our way to the museum. It was better than we even imagined. They
At the Bus Station Saw This Cat Resting
only slightly interested when we walked bydid an excellent job of showing the various shipwrecks and the finds among them that had been discovered around the coastline of Turkey. The signage was excellent as it provided such valuable information about what the actual finds of the cargo and ship told them about the activities of that time. It provided excellent details of where the cargo was taken on telling more of the trade taking place at the time. The remains of the ships also gave more details of the type of construction of the ships and even some of the personal property of the crew told where they originally came from. It really was fascinating. There were numerous shipwrecks and they did a good job of keeping them separated by having them on display in the various towers. In this way, you could learn about the finds, but also view the interiors of each of the towers which were all different in style.
One of the shipwrecks from the 11
th C. was found near Serce Limini. About 20%!o(MISSING)f the ship was recovered and it was determined that it was a merchant sailing ship with 2 masts. It was 49 feet long and 17 feet
wide. After its discovery, it was more commonly referred to as the “Glass Wreck”. The reason for this became obvious as approximately 2 tons of glass was used as ballast with an additional 1 ton of waste materials from a glass factory on the Syrian coast. What was truly amazing was that after all these years, they found 80 intact pieces of glassware, 4 dozen Islamic glazed bowls, cooking vessels, copper buckets and some of the personal belongings of crew. They did a wonderful job with displaying the remains of the shipwreck with glass pieces as ballast as well as numerous amphorae’s that also tell a story. Amphorae are vessels used for carrying and transporting liquids and solids. Many are in a shape that make them easy to stack together in the hold of a ship. They have markings on them that can provide information about the contents and even the location of where they were produced which helped the archeologist with confirming the dating of the shipwreck.
There was so much to take it at the museum, we stayed the whole day soaking in the history that was learned from the numerous shipwrecks as well as about the
castle itself. It was definitely a long and warm day, so our first stop was at a place to get a cool, refreshing fresh pomegranate and orange juice mixed together – we really have gotten hooked on those since being here!
In reading about places of interest here, there was mention of a historic boatyard so we went in search of that. This one got us wandering a little as couldn’t seem to find it. We then realized that what you would view here is the tomb of two of the most important figures that helped develop the shipbuilding trade here to produce ships for the navy. They and others tied to the boatbuilding industry are buried here. If you looked closely, you could see some of the remains of the walls around where the boatyard was located. It was closing soon after we arrived, but it gave us enough time to wander the grounds learning about these two men in particular as well as enjoying the amazing plants lining the walkways here. It definitely wasn’t what we thought we were coming to see, but it was still informative and got us to another part of the city of
Bodrum.
We read there was also another museum here, the Bodrum Maritime Museum, which concentrated on telling you about the fishing and sponge diving that was famous in this area as well as the shipbuilding and the changes over time to the design of the boats. They showed that the first boats were mainly used for fishing, sponge diving and transportation. These were first sailing ships with engines added later. They had on display the various designs of boats that were used with the reasoning about the design changes. The most famous about the boats here in Bodrum (and well known by tourist) is the gulet. In fact, we found that the name defines the rig type and not the type of hull. Even though the gulet is known by tourist as a traditional boat of Turkey, the thinking is that it was first used by the Dutch and then later popularized in North America. This gulet rig type then came to the Mediterranean and was changed slightly to its current hull design here in Turkey. The changes that were made allowed for a larger cargo capacity and to be able to navigate the storms on the waters here.
Sometimes Hard to Cross the Street
when cars park like this at end of sidewalk! The gulets that we see today plying the waters here and lined up at every harbor trying to get people to sign up for a trip with them are impressive and provide plenty of comfort to these that take their vacation on them. They are beautiful to see, however, when anchored out, cruisers typically do not like to see them in the same bay as they carry numerous passengers and with the size of these gulets they do take up a lot of real estate in the bay!
There were numerous differences pointed out on the signage, but after a while of reading, we found that we picked up as much as we could and then enjoyed seeing the various models on display It was a small museum, with very informative (but very long) explanations of what you were seeing. The upstairs area was filled with a shell collection that had been donated to the museum and included shells from all over the world. This museum did not take us too long to explore, but it was still interesting and you couldn’t beat that there wasn’t an entrance fee!
We heard that there was a textile market
A Couple of Views On Our First Night Walk in Town
the mall is located by the upscale marina in town day so figured we would check it out. We weren’t sure what it would be, but was hoping for traditional textiles. Unfortunately, the market we were directed to was a market like others we have visited that sold plenty of t-shirts, jackets, dresses, pants, hats – anything you could wear (but also what you can see in pretty much any shop in town. There were a couple of stands that had bedspreads, table cloths, towels and pillow cases, but as we weren’t in the market for anything we just wandered around before heading out to find some place to eat.
We really weren’t interested in going to the more touristy area along the waterfront, so wandered down a few of the smaller pedestrian alleyways. We were happy we did as we found a very small restaurant that only had 3 tables out front with a menu posted fortunately with photos. We have heard that there is a traditional dish of a very small ravioli, but never had a chance to try it. The owner recommended we try it 2 ways, boiled and fried. She also suggested we have the stuffed grape leaves which we have had before. While we
waited for our meal, we enjoyed watching her mother cracking open olives! She had quite the routine of picking out the olives from the bucket, putting them on a stone and then lifting up another stone and hitting it hard enough to crack open. She kept this up for most of the time we waited for our meal – the only time she stopped was when she had to go into the kitchen to do something to help her daughter! The meal came, and it was amazing! We were so impressed with the flavor of the pasta and the filling itself, but the garlic sauce it was served with was spectacular. As mentioned, we have had stuffed grape leaves before, but nothing like these – the flavor of the filling was outstanding. The meal was served with a small bowl of pickled vegetables which were enjoyable as well. The total for this delicious meal was about $15! We were so glad we found this place – so much better than the restaurants geared for the tourist along the waterfront. Always nice to support a small, independent restaurant as well.
Our time in Bodrum was enjoyable, but time to move
on to our last stop before heading back to Marmaris and Tsamaya to get ready to head back to the US soon. Will tell about that in the next blog posting.
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