Bodrum

April 23-24, 2015

After breakfast Murat and Teoman drove us downtown to Bodrum Castle, built in the early 15th century by the Knights of St. John, also known as the Knights Hospitaller. Bodrum castle was originally dedicated to St. Peter and is known as the Petronion. The town was known by that name, but after the Turkish Republic was established the name was turkified to Bodrum. Unfortunately, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, was just a short distance away, and was plundered for the castle’s building materials.

We did not visit the mausoleum site because nothing remains except the foundation. What wasn’t used by the Knights of St. John as building materials was carted off to the British Museum. In ancient times Bodrum was called Halicarnassus and was governed by King Maussolos. When he died in 353 B.C. his sister-wife, Queen Artimesia, started the construction of an enormous white marble tomb. It was the first “mausoleum,” named after Maussolos, and rose to almost 150 feet in height. Ionic columns supported a pyramidal roof that was topped by a statue of Maussolos and Artemisia riding a quadriga, now in London. We have the Knights to thank for the fact that the world’s first mausoleum is no more.

On the other hand, they did build a heck of a nice castle. The Knights of St. John were an international organization, nominally reporting only to the Pope. The castle’s towers are named after the home countries of the knights that built them – England, France, Germany and Spain. We entered the English tower, which features a lion motif and was dedicated to Henry IV. The inside is laid out like a medieval hall, which may be more or less how it looked at the time.

The Knights Hospitaller were founded to provide way stations for pilgrims traveling to or from the Holy Land who needed rest and recuperation. Although some medieval medical care may have been available, “Hospitaller” is more closely related to the modern word “hospitality” than it is to “hospital.”  By the 1520’s Suleyman the Magnificent became tired of the Knight’s enclaves in his domain, and drove them first to Rhodes and finally to Malta, where they stayed until the time of Napoleon. Later, the castle was badly damaged by French and British naval artillery in World War I, but has been beautifully restored.

The best part of the castle is that it contains the Museum of Underwater Archeology. Many rooms are devoted to the archeology of ancient shipwrecks from the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. Many ancient amphorae, as well as glass ingots, tin ingots, and other objects have been plucked from shipwrecks at the bottom of the sea. Much of this work occurred in the 1970’s after a sponge-diver located a wreck while hunting for sponges. Tin is scarce in Turkey and was imported from Cyprus for making bronze. Glass also was better made elsewhere in ancient times, shipped to Turkey and then made into finished goods.

The oldest excavated shipwreck on display in the castle is the Uluburun wreck, which dates from the end of the 14^th century B.C., late in the Bronze Age. The ship carried a cargo of 20 tons – ingots of copper, tin and glass, as well as ebony logs, ostrich eggshells, amphorae of resin, and elephant and hippo ivory. A bronze goddess from the Syria-Palestine coast, which gilded head, hands and feet was part of the display, as well as a golden cup, a gold scarab of Nefertiti and other golden objects.

Another interesting wreck was from the Serce Limani natural harbor. It was a seventh-century wreck that contained many glass ingots as well as finished glass objects. No flash photography was allowed and the room was rather dimly lit for preservation purposes, but some of the glass objects were beautifully lit from below.

Photos are not allowed in one of the best rooms of the palace. Recently an ancient sarcophagus was found that contained a skeleton adorned with much gold jewelry. The woman’s face was reconstructed by forensic scientists in Britain, and it was decided that she is queen Artemisia. I was struck by a beautiful gold-leaf necklace that may have been a bit uncomfortable but was certainly gorgeous.

After we exited the castle, we went to a restaurant on the waterfront for lunch. This restaurant is known for its pizza, which Teoman assured us would be better than Italian pizza. It was great pizza. One interesting feature of our cheese and “ham” pizza was that it was made without tomato sauce. The ham was made from cured beef rather than pork. Teo and I each had a bowl of fish soup with big chunks of white fish in it. Mark and Teo each had a dish custom-ordered by Teo that consisted of noodles and beef cutlets in a tomato sauces topped with melted cheese. Sarah ordered an Aegean salad, which a few miles away on the island of Kos might have been called a Greek salad – tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and olives. We shared an order of thin-cut fries that could have been called homemade potato chips.

After lunch Murat drove us to the Myndos Gate, the only surviving gate of the ancient city wall, which has been partially restored. This gate and its moat (also partially restored) would have been besieged by Alexander the Great in 334 B.C. We drove past the ancient theater, and got a good look at it, since it faces the road. Teo said that the site of the mausoleum is not worth a visit, unless you just want to check it off your list, which we didn’t.

For dinner that evening we walked to Musto, one of the places suggested by Teo. On a blackboard above the kitchen door was a long quote from Anthony Bourdain, the first sentence of which I translated using an online translator and some help from the waiter. It reads, “There are some very interesting experiences of food.” Musto is one of them. The ambiance was very vibrant, with young people laughing and talking, and waiters bustling around at top speed. As a starter we enjoyed grilled octopus in soy sauce and olive oil, which may be one of the best things I have ever tasted. I ate a three-mushroom risotto, also very good, while Mark had some soup and chicken tenders. Abby and Sarah had chicken Musto, a chicken breast with lemon sauce and roasted vegetables. The meal was so good that we returned the next day for lunch.

On Friday we had free time until 6:00 p.m. when Teo and Murat would take us to the Bodrum airport to begin our trip home. We did a bit of shopping downtown, lingered over lunch at Musto, and then went back to the El Vino hotel to sit by the pool and read our books or update the blog. As I write this, I am in the Amsterdam airport, awaiting our flight to MSP.  It’s been a great trip.

We saw all the sights we wanted to see – Haghia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Ephesus, the underground churches and cities of Cappadocia – even a hot air balloon ride! We also had some unexpected pleasures – eating dinner in a penthouse restaurant on Pera Boulevard in Istanbul, walking in the footsteps of Herodotus on Samos, learning about early Christian communities that were literally underground in Cappadocia, viewing an ancient shipwreck from the 14^th century B. C. in Bodrum. By far the best experience was renewing and rejuvenating our friendship and family ties with Sarah and Mark. Many times I recalled the day late in January 1977 when I first met Sarah and Mark, witnessing the love between the two sisters and enjoying Mark’s social skills and dry humor. And now, 38 years later, we get a chance to deepen and cement our friendship with the shared experience of a wonderful vacation in Turkey. It doesn’t get any better than this.