Treasures from the deep

Before leaving the picturesque village of Gümüşlük, we were determined to walk across to the other side of the isthmus and up the hill to see the remains of the ancient city of Myndos.

The walk across the isthmus didn’t take long and once there, we were captivated by the gorgeous little bays with gin-clear water and what looked like the remains of buildings in the shallows, perhaps relics of Myndos?

The walk up to the summit was quite steep but there was a good path with stairs in places.

The views were glorious – we could clearly see the Greek islands of Kalimnos and Leros surrounded by a sparkling deep blue sea – a truly beautiful sight!

Some parts of the original city wall were still visible but apart from those and a few scattered stone piles, there were disappointingly few remains. The walk was really lovely though!

Although there wasn’t an obvious path down the other side of the hill, we decided to give it a go – what could possibly go wrong?!

Actually nothing did go wrong really but the walk down was rather more precarious than on the way up so it took us a lot longer. The views of Gümüşlük were lovely though so it was well worth the extra effort.

It was misty as we left Gümüşlük – there was a strange and eerie atmosphere – hundreds of gulls had flocked to the small island at the harbour entrance and everything was so unusually still. The sounds of our engines were muffled as we travelled across the dead calm waters out into the open sea.

Before too long the sun came out and a couple of hours later we were back for a second look at historic Bodrum.

On our first visit there we had visited the underwater archeological museum, housed in the Crusader Castle, and just loved it – particularly the treasures found on the numerous wrecks along the coast in the area.

Situated within the walls of Bodrum Castle, the museum is chock-full of fascinating exhibits.

There was so much to see but that we ended going to the museum twice in as many days.

One of the highlights was the collection of artefacts from the world’s oldest known shipwreck, discovered in Uluburun in 1982. This incredible wreck, found by a local sponge diver, dates back to the Early Bronze Age – 14th Century BC.

As well as the 10 tonnes of copper ingots, and a ton of tin ingots, there were 175 glass ingots of cobalt blue, turquoise, and lavender – the earliest intact glass ingots ever found. There were also many artefacts that proved there was a thriving commercial sea trade network existing in the Late Bronze Age in the Mediterranean.

Some of the most fascinating relics were already antiques when the ship sunk – one which captivated us was a worn scarab of pure gold inscribed in hieroglyphics with the name of Nefertiti (c. 1370 – c. 1336 BCE).

In between museum visits we enjoyed strolling through the town looking at the many wonderful sights.

On one of our explorations we walked up to the 4th Century Greco-Roman theatre perched high up on the hill overlooking Bodrum.

We then went to seek out the remains of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus which in its heyday was one of the Seven Wonders of The World.

Sadly after standing for 2247 years, the Mausoleum was destroyed by a series of successive earthquakes between the 12th to the 15th centuries.

In 1402 the Crusaders arrived at the site and recorded it as being in ruins. They then proceeded to steal many of the massive stone blocks from the mausoleum to fortify their waterfront castle. Much of the beautiful marble was burnt into lime.

At some point (probably at the time of the Crusaders), grave robbers broke into and destroyed the underground burial chamber, stealing all the treasures that had remained there since the burial of Mausolus.

The Mausoleum was approximately 45 m (148 ft) in height, and the four sides were adorned with sculptural reliefs. It was such a wonderful piece of architecture and design that from then on, the Romans called all their magnificent tombs mausolea.

After Bodrum we returned to Yalikavak – where many super yachts choose to anchor – to restock our fruit and vegetables at the weekly market. The produce was so fresh and delicious-looking, especially the peaches which were massive and luscious to eat.