I got off the bus and walked down towards the seaside. It was a sure bet that there were going to be places to stay. As I saw them, I found an alleyway back away from the season and found a place. After some haggling, I ended up staying there for something like 15 Lira per night. Considering this place was in Bodrum, that was a steal! It seemed like Besim's bargaining tricks were working out really well for me. Now I won't tell you the quality of the room I was in. Let's just say...it was a little rustic. No internet connection and worst of all...no air conditioner. At least I saved money though. After I put my stuff down, I went down to the seaside to walk around some. The place was very touristy and there were lots of shops and things. I also had decided on this trip that I wanted to go diving. There were a few dive boats on the water taking deposits for diving the following day. Unfortunately, a day trip cost 100TL. I decided that this could be a splurge for the trip. When would I have the opportunity to dive in Turkey again?
Then I went and found the Castle of St. Peter. This thing was spectacular. According to my guidebook, when Tamerlane invaded Anatolia in 1402 and threw the Ottomans off balance, the Knights Hospitaller captured Bodrum and built this castle. When I entered the castle, I went down a corridor under the crusaders coat of arms. The corridor then leads up into the main court, which is centered on an ancient mulberry tree. On the left hand side, there were exhibits of artifacts dating from the 14th Century and recovered from the waters around southwest Turkey.
I then went inside the chapel of the castle, wich contains a full-sized reconstruction of the back half of a 7th Century eastern Roman ship. You could even climb on it! After that I kept going to a glass shipwreck exhibit. In the castle I also saw the Snake Tower and the German Tower. Each were great vantage points to look out over both the town of Bodrum and the beautiful blue waters of the bay. Near the snake tower, I went down the stairs to see the dungeon. Over the top of the corridor were the words "Inde Deus abest," which means (where God does not exist). Knights were brought here to be confined and tortured from 1513 to 1523. It was a happy place as you can tell. I also went inside the English Tower, which was set up like a medieval dining room. On the walls were flags from both the Crusaders and the Ottomans. While in the room, one could sit and listen to the lovely music of Carmina Burana (even though the piece was written in the 1900s). I didn't get to go to the French Tower because it was closed. Overall, the castle was a really cool place to spend a few hours. I was amazed at howe well it was preserved and how it resembled the European castles you see in the movies.
After my tour of the castle, it was pretty late in the afternoon (maybe 6pm). I walked up the hill, hoping to go to the ancient Mausoleum. The Mausoleum was one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world. Unfortunately, it was closed by the time I got there and would be closed all day the following day. Apparently, there wasn't that much left anyway, but it still would have been cool to see. I continued to walk up the hill from Bodrum until I got to an ancient theater. I couldn't go inside, but was able to snap some pictures from the outside.
Down the hill back towards the water I passed some of these circular stone buildings. Actually, they are all over the place here. Apparently, the stone buildings had the ability to turn salt water into fresh water. Ancient people would put water inside them for a year and then the water would be fresh. Personally, I don't understand the chemistry of it, but it apparently works. I guess these were some of the world's first desalinization plants!
I walked down to the coast and went to the shipyard, which was a museum to the shipyards that built Ottoman ships in the 1800s. The shipyard itself was fortified as a defense against pirates. This place was also a graveyard.
I then went back to town and walked along the shops to see everything and found an internet cafe to spend the evening. I am boring and wasn't really interested in checking out those crazy discos by myself. At the smoothie restaurant, which provided free internet to its customers, I met Oner. He was a nice guy and well-meaning, but he would not stop talking to me/asking questions of me for the life of it. I gave him my msn name (Turks love MSN) before I realized how annoying he was. That was a mistake and to this day he still tries to chat with me, though usually I don't respond.
I went to bed kind of early because I had to be up early for the diving trip the following day.
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