Bodrum

We woke up this morning surrounded by turquoise water, and the rolling green hills of southern Turkey. We had arrived in Bodrum – known in antiquity as Halicarnassus.

After a quick breakfast on my own – made unintentionally entertaining by the woman sitting adjacent to me confirming to her breakfast companion very audibly not only that she wasn’t going anywhere or doing anything (pulling the “poor me” drama to anybody that would listen), but also that the “intelligence of the staff leaves a lot to be desired”. I couldn’t believe my ears, and struggled to contain a smile. I think she noticed, and stared at me for some time while I carried on shoving yoghurt and muesli into my face while staring straight ahead.

After returning to the cabin and putting a stick of dynamite under my other half’s bed, we left the ship and set off on foot towards Bodrum, and the surrounding countryside – with plans courtesy of Google Gemini to visit as much as possible.

We walked over 16 kilometres during the day. My feet are complaining at me.

The first destination was the old theatre, overlooking the port. It’s a climb through back-streets, and across a somewhat dangerous major road, but it’s worth it. Of course when I say “theatre” I really mean “amphitheater”. Our arrival coincided with a coach-load of tourists and several tour guides – and a very pretty girl with either her photographer or boyfriend – who took no notice of the several thousand year old architecture around her, and seemed far more interested in the angle of the light, and the angle of her hips, hair, and boobs to create the most tik-tok-worthy photos.

I thought the theatre was pretty amazing, and somewhat overestimated my own bravery – climbing the circular rows of seats to the very top to take the most impressive picture I might. When I looked back down, my knees lost quite a bit of their strength and fortitude. How I clambered back down in one piece is still something of a mystery.

After departing the theatre we set towards perhaps the most famous treasure hidden within Bodrum, but in doing so had to cross the ridiculously dangerous road once again. Something I’ve noticed in Turkey is that even road crossings don’t really mean anything – if you try to cross a road, you’re essentially making a wager with any drivers heading in your general direction.

After a few minutes dodging cars, motorbikes and trucks we descended down through the labyrinthine back-streets of Bodrum, and located the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus – one of the wonders of the ancient world. As with many of these sites, it’s far less spectacular in reality than your minds eye may have imagined. All that is left of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus is a square foundation, and lots of pieces of marble columns. Reading the inscriptions around the site, you quickly discover that the frescos, figures, and horses mostly ended up at the British Museum, and that most of the stone-work ended up in Bodrum Castle – which was built after several severe earthquakes had already levelled the Mausoleum in antiquity. It did stand for 1500 years before surrendering to nature though – which is impressive, given the drawings and accounts of the original structure that still exist.

After leaving the Mausoleum we continued on through the narrow streets and discovered a small restaurant recommended by Google – and had a wonderful light lunch accompanied by wine and beer.

Finally we descended back down to sea-level and bought tickets to visit Bodrum Castle – and immediately spotted the different coloured stones, and carved mullions stolen from the mausoleum – they were built into it’s walls everywhere – standing out like a sore thumb against the sandstone of the rest of the castle.

The castle was huge and fascinating – with endless rooms filled with private collections of artefacts – the most impressive of which was perhaps a collection of grave goods from an ancient princess who’s tomb had been discovered near Bodrum completely untouched. She has been identified almost certainly through modern reconstructive methods as Queen Ada of Caria – a 4th century ruler of Mausolus.

After the castle we made our way back through Bodrum in the general direction of the ship, got hopelessly lost, hot, and thirsty, and ended up sitting in a bar for an hour watching the Formula One qualifying in Turkish, and drinking wine and beer. Who knew that Tuborg beer would taste so nice when you’ve been cooked by the sun all day?

Finally we set off through the markets towards the cruise ship again – got hopelessly lost again – and somehow ended up buying all manner of souvenirs for our children (read: used up our remaining Turkish Lira). Once again I found myself doing awkward battle with the shopkeepers – who tend to stand in the doorways of their establishments, and accost you as you wander past.

One particularly spectacularly moustachioed shopkeeper made us both laugh;

“Are you ok?”

“Yes”

“Follow me and I’ll show you my watches”

“I’ll bet you will”

We both grinned, and he let me go on my way.

Tomorrow we are at sea, and following that we’ll arrive in Cyprus. I’ve been never been to Cyprus, but many of my friends at junior school had lived there, after their families were posted with the Royal Air Force (I grew up near RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire).

Right! Time to get dressed and ready for dinner! It’s “smart casual” on-board tonight. I’m working my way through the various smarter clothes I brought – mostly to get some use out of them.