Bodrum: seaside serene

  Bodrum, Turkey
Monday, April 3, 2006

After a somewhat tedious bus ride through rugged mountain passes in the south west of Turkey, I found myself in the delightful little seaside town of Bodrum. For my intent was to catch a ferry to the Greek island of Kos - the first step in a hop, skip and jump to Crete via legendary Rhodes.

Now some of you may be wondering what happened to the rest of Turkey? Such a large country must have more than one or two sights, so why am I zipping across it and heading for neighbouring Greece already? Well I haven't cracked just yet - some new travel related loss of sanity resulting in a mad dash across Europe to the UK. Nor is the travel fund drying up.

Rest assured, there is a method to the madness and I will be returning to Turkey for Anzac Day and half of May, which includes catching up with a special guest to travel with. All of this, in my typically round about way, means that I have to cover southern Greece now rather than in a more logical order. Lots of miles to cover in short periods will be a challenge, but that's what we Technotrekkers live for. Wish me luck!



Anyway, back to Bodrum as it is a very nice place indeed. Built on two adjoining harbours that are divided by a major Crusader castle on the point between, modern day Bodrum is a marina town that has actually planned its development to retain a wonderful European atmosphere. Apparently neighbouring towns like Marmaris haven't been so lucky on this front, hence my good fortune to have to sail from Bodrum.



Things are slowly warming up for the summer tourist season, literally and figuratively, with Turkish tourists taking advantage of the slower spring months. The shoreline of the eastern harbour is particularly pleasant to stroll along, or to whet one's whistle at any of the many beachside cafes whilst the sun sets, and in the old town behind the bazaar/market area there are narrow whitewashed alleyways to escape the growing crowds. In the western harbour lies the port, with seriously expensive yachting hardware filling the marina slips. So all in all very reminiscent of an Italian coastal town but thousands of miles away in Hellenic Turkey.



Many Hellenistic influences can still be found in Bodrum due to its proximity to timeless Grecian trading and social centres like Rhodes and Athens. I hadn't really known much about Hellenism - the promotion of principles and ideals of classical Greek civilisation (such as aesthetics, philosophy, science, law and democracy) outside ancient Greece - but Bodrum was a major port called Harlicarnassus in ancient Greco-Roman times, and growing from such a beautiful Mediterranean environment it is not hard to see why Hellenism was practised so readily here. Even great Grecian thinkers like Herodotus (480-425BC), the 'Father of History', hailed from Harlicarnassus. More surprising is how evidence of this Hellenism survived through later periods of the Turks and Islam's displeasure of portraits and false icons.



The main feature of Bodrum is the castle - according to an information board here it's the 'strongest castle on the Mediterranean'. Built by the Knights of St John in the name of St Peter (go figure?), work started in 1406 and wasn't actually completed until 1522 - just in time to be peacefully handed over to the Turks a year later when Rhodes finally fell to Islam. The local knights wouldn't have been happy about that I expect...



You have to pass through no less than seven fortified gates to reach inner sanctum that was built to support up to 50 knights and more than 150 soldiers. 249 coats of arms grace the walls, mainly belonging to Grand Master of the St John order and to various castle commanders over the residency. Interestingly, five internal towers were built by specific Crusader nations - England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy - so each had their own tower. The English Tower , built under Henry IV is the largest English monument built outside England according to another plaque (also a little hard to believe).

Incidentally, the castle has also been used as a prison and more recently as target for French naval bombing in WWI (on May 26, 1915), as the Allies suspected Turkey was refuelling German subs in Bodrum.



What's inside the castle is equally fascinating, as a number of rooms and courtyards house the extensive Museum of Marine Archaeology. Recoveries from some of the oldest wrecks ever excavated are displayed here, including pottery and glassware finds from the Minoan trading period (1,600 to 1,200 BC) and hundreds of amphorae, including some dating back to 3,000BC.

One wreck - known as the 'Uluburan' and sunk in around 1,400BC - contained about 20 tonnes of raw materials, including seals from Assyria and Babylonia, Canaanite jewelry and weapons, Cypriot ceramics and copper ingots, Egyptian scarabs, African ebony, Eastern spices, Baltic Amber, a Romanian scepter, and swords from Italy and Greece. This shows the extent of international trade even at this remote time in ancient history. The wreck was found 1982 in waters 44 to 61 metres deep. With dives of only 20-25 minutes at this depth it took more than 22,000 dives over an 11 year period to complete excavation!



It really is a great castle, with plenty of little details on every wall to compliment the museum and the more significant aspects of its construction. Parts of older carved stones built straight into newer walls (love the loin cloth and legs above right), specific reliefs in the structure and the many coats of arms are evidence of a combined creativity on the part of the allied Renaissance period European builders.



And even the smaller, later period details like the wall lanterns, huge cactii and the Hellenic statues and carvings placed liberally over the vast public grounds make every turn an adventure. Bright spring flowers found in many corners are an additional bonus at this time of the year.



Apart from that there is not really much to do around Bodrum except relax - at a cafe, on a boat, shopping or at a beach. So back to this reality I went, deciding that a sunset beer or two at Cafe Del Mar would do me nicely. Now I very much doubt it is an authorised franchise of the famous Ibizan sunset bar, but like the original they charge like wounded bulls even if you don't get to watch the sun dip below the horizon..

Still it was nice to chill on huge cushions listening to their mellow style of music whilst looking over the eastern harbour, following the sun's last lazy rays over yachts at anchor and on the grey castle walls. As I did I couldn't help thinking that in a month or two Bodrum will be buzzing with summer crowds - most from Europe - and I figure its popularity will continue to grow as the rest of Turkey becomes more continental too. I'll probably explore this EU situation more when I return in May but for now I'll just say that Turkey is far more European that I expected it to be, and Bodrum is the epitome of this for me.

Next entry -> the Greek Isles - Kos and Rhodes

Did you know?

Seeing as though I'm heading over soon, there are about 1,400 Greek Islands. 227 of them are inhabited and of these, only 78 have more than 100 inhabitants. Those lucky devils on the small islands...

If I can only make it to four or five I'll be happy ;-)