Turkutreis, Turkey, Friday April 4th

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We rose fairly late and enjoyed pancakes and yoghurt smoothies, prepared for us by Jim. He devoted the day to taking us around, which was very kind and meant that we could see a place that does not appear in the travel guides or the Lonely Planet. Its name is Pedasa. To reach it we drove into the hilly areas where the views were magnificent. We stopped at a deserted farmhouse where the well contained water. You could clearly tell from the condition of the stones that the water table had dropped. Apparently there was a low rainfall last winter but I don’t know if that would have been the cause.

A path led off across the meadow and up the hill to the ruins of a building complex of some kind. It had an arched entry, many large stones scattered across the site, and two major towers, one of which looked relatively intact. We didn’t know the era of the ruins. The Turkish flag fluttered noisily on the top. As we rounded the better tower, we could see that its wall had been breached and that many stones had been removed in a haphazard way. Jim said that he had heard that there are some sites where looting has taken place, where whole walls have been destroyed in the hasty pursuit of what may have been buried or hidden within a building. In addition, ruins would have been seen as excellent repositories of building materials, so much easier to procure and transport than finding new sources. We have seen evidence of the reusing of ancient site materials in Greece and it is an understandable practice if there is no interest in, or understanding of, what the ruins represent and what can be learnt from them.
Next Jim took the adventurous approach and drove down an unknown road that seemed to be heading seaward. We couldn’t see any houses and the area was absolutely wild and beautiful. It looked like a great place to camp but Jim said he thought you weren’t supposed to. The road had been a good choice and we soon joined a main artery to Bodrum.
Bodrum is a delightful seaside town with all the attributes of affluence and appeal to tourists and visitors. It has an enormous marina lined with pleasure craft and others offering tours of the islands in the tourist season (summer). Despite this, opposite the bus station and minutes from the main shopping strip, cows grazed contentedly in a paddock. At one end of the bay an impressive castle dominates the skyline.
Formerly St Peter’s castle, it was taken over by the Knights of St John, the same group who were at Rhodes. Once on an island, land fill has joined it to the town. We strolled along the promenade to the other end of the bay, passing boats winched up out of the water - some in the process of having their hulls scraped and others having the annual cleaning and repairing jobs done. Some boats were for sale - not tempting to me, having seen what a big job maintenance would be.
Lunch was at a bistro, gazing out to sea and across at the castle. We strolled around the bay and entered through the first of the eight walls that protect the inner castle. If I had been an enemy, the confusing layout would have ensured that my mission failed but obviously the castle designers considered that they were dealing with more spatially aware foe. The castle is the very much bigger brother of the one at Marmaris in terms of it having beautiful courtyard, portico and garden spaces within. It was virtually destroyed by French war ships during the 2nd World War and was rebuilt using its original materials and photographic guides. Coats of arms adorn the walls.
The most wonderful thing was that the makers of the museum of underwater archaeology, which is housed within the castle, were really conscious of the needs of a visitor. They supplied ample information, paintings and set ups showing how things would have been in the context of the times when they were used, and videos that showed the process of underwater archaeology using the shipwrecks and exhibits featured in this museum.
In addition, in the Lion Tower, which was the home of the English section of the Knights of St John, the chamber had been set up as it would have been with a grand dining table, armour and chain mail around the walls, modern painted versions of the coats of arms and labels saying which families they represented, a model sailing vessel of the times and stained glass windows. There were information boards and an interesting story in lithographs, explained in writing, which told the tale of a son who believed he should have been the Sultan instead of his brother. He went to Egypt seeking support from the Sultan there who said that the most he would do was to try to broker peace between the brothers. Next he approached the Knights of St John at Rhodes and offered them perpetual peace if they would join him against his brother. The knights took him in and treated him royally, but it transpired that they kept him prisoner until his death, all the time receiving payola. It didn’t say who was paying but my guess is that it was the Sultan himself, since it was probably a small price to be rid of such a threat. That could be wrong though, because it would mean that the knights were in cahoots with their enemy. So much greater understanding and so much to think about - just what you would hope a museum would provoke and inspire. The prow of a cargo ship from the 7th BC had been rebuilt using the technology of the times, as set up with a cargo of amphoras and the galley and deck as they would have been. Amphoras are enormous storage jars with seemingly pointless pointed bottoms, and it was only in seeing them stacked between beams against the curved side of a ship with straw between them that their shape made good practical sense. Originally used for storing a multitude of different foodstuffs and liquids (including hundreds of beef bones!), in later times they were more likely to contain olive oil, wine and grains. The museum had hundreds of amphorae and notes that explained how the shapes, markings and evidence of contents had allowed the archaeologists surmise the route of the wrecked ship, its cargo and probable origin and the date. Many other items were found at the sites of shipwrecks which indicated the origins of the crewmembers and what life was like on board ship. One early bronze age (15th Century BC) ship which came to grief had been carrying ingots of copper, tin and lead as well as great blobs of glass which were coloured with rare colours and could be used by glass blowers as raw materials. Seeing the video of the items lifted from the sea bed and then to see them cleaned and shining in display cases enabled us to understand how the archaeologists who raised them must feel.
One room contained beautiful glassware that rarely survived in land sites and whose existence at such early times we had not even considered. We were too late to enter a chamber where the bones of a princess and a mouse lie, and the dungeons where the sign at the end of the passageway says that beyond this point, there is no God.
We called at the biggest supermarket we have ever seen to buy some supplies for tea. At least three hundred trolleys were lined up. Dinner was leisurely and enjoyable, and luckily over before the power cut out and Jim resourcefully produced kerosene lanterns.