April 23 – At Sea. A day to try to catch up and relax a little. The relaxing is likely the catching up, not so much. I'm way behind but will try to write as much as I can. Today was pretty typical of a day at sea but with more time spent writing.
The evening entertainment was the Prinsendam Singers with the same show we saw earlier, Songbook. Not sure why they'd repeat a show when they only perform every 12-14 days. The excuse was that we had new people join us in Venice. That really won't wash because there are only 51 new people out of the 800+ on the ship. Fortunately they sing well and the songs are nostalgic so the show was still enjoyable.
April 24 – Bodrum, Turkey. A new port for us. This is an ancient site and the location of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. More about that later. According to Herodotus, the Father of History born in 484 BC. The Dorians, designers of the Doric column style, first settled the area. The Carians, who lived by the sea, and the Lelegians who settled in the hills joined them. This became the city of Halicarnassus. It had its most prosperous time during the reign of King Mausolos while it was the capital of the Caria Region around 353 BC. Persians took control of the city and ruled it until Alexander the Great destroyed it. Egypt occupied the area after that until the Romans took over in 192 BC. The city was not important again until the Byzantines took over in 9 AD. The Ottoman Turks took over in 395 AD but were soon displaced by the Crusaders. The Knight's of St. John built the castle here in the early 1400s. The area was part of the Ottoman Empire in 1552. When Turkey became a republic in 1923 its name was changed to Bodrum.
The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus was built by Queen Artemisia II in honor of her husband AND brother King Mausolos. From this we had derived the word mausoleum so I guess, technically, it was the Mausoleum of Mousolos. It was large, 797 feet by 346 feet and had 36 Iconic columns supporting the third tier's roof under which the body was entombed. The tomb stood for about 1,500 years before being destroyed by an earthquake in 1304. Only the foundation remains. The rest of it can be seen in downtown Bodrum because the Knights of St. John used the tumbled down stone to build their castle. The statues of the King and Queen as well as other artifacts were given to the British and are in the British Museum in London. They are not likely to be returned because the initial transfer was legal.
Bodrum Castle, built of the above-mentioned ancient stones, is one of the best-preserved fortresses of the Anatolian Middle Ages. It has three ramparts and five towers. Oddly the towers are named, Italian, German, English, Snake and French. Our guide could or would not explain why. You have to pass through seven narrow gates to get to the center of the castle making it an easily defended structure. There are 249 different coats of arms on the castle walls at various places. Lots of knights occupied this fort on the Crusader period. It was later used as a prison but is now an underwater archeological museum.
I won't bore you (I heard you think, "Too late!!") with all the details but here's a recap of the exhibits that are scattered throughout the castle in various ancient structures.
The Amphora Collection – The largest collection of Eastern Mediterranean Amphorae in the world.
The Chapel and the Seventh Century AD East Roman Ship – The 1402 chapel is in the Gothic style and inside is an East Roman ship that was recovered from the ocean floor.
The Glass Hall – This exhibit was fantastic. Various glass objects from the Fourteenth Century BC to the Eleventh Century AD are on display.
The Tektas Shipwreck – A ship from the Fifth Century BC that was found in 1996. It was excavated between 199-2001 by a team led by Dr. George Bass. It's the only Classical era shipwreck every excavated in the Mediterranean Sea.
Late Bronze Shipwrecks – This three-room exhibit has artifacts from Second Century BC and a Sixteenth Century BC shipwrecks. The third room has artifacts from the first ever scientific underwater excavation.
The Uluburun Shipwreck – This unique exhibit has the ship above as it would have been loaded at the pier while below it are the contents as they were found underwater. Sort of a before and after view that I've never seen before. Extremely interesting.
The fact that the museum is broken up into various structures around the castle allows each exhibit to be small enough to be easily accessed and give you a break from display after display by allowing you to walk through the old fort to get from one item to the next. I have never been in a more accessible or enjoyable museum in my life. It was a joy to visit. Unless it's Egypt or Israel I usually burn out on displays after about 30 minutes.
There are several more ancient structures in around the town. It has a Greek Theater from about 300 BC. It could seat 13,000 spectators. But more significant are the remains of the Gateway of Myndos. This huge gate that allowed the road from Myndos to enter the city had twin towers that were 260 feet high. Both of the killers of Julius Caesar, Brutus and Cassius, were stationed here and used these towers. When Alexander the Great conquered this area he lost thousands of men before he breached the walls and took the city.
From the gates we climbed up the mountain to a very nice hotel with a great view over the city and harbor area. We had a snack they call cigars here but it's actually fresh cheese wrapped in an egg roll type wrapper and deep-fried. It was very good. It was served with Turkish tea. Our little guide, Filiz (pronounced Phyllis) was so cute I had to have Diana take our picture. Then it was back to the bus and back to the ship. A very pleasant and informative day.
Our entertainer this evening was Emily Reed, an excellent voice singing songs by Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland, among others. Very good show.
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