There are splendid views from the battlements of Bodrum's magnificent castle, built by the Knights Hospitaller in the early 15th century. The castle houses the Museum of Underwater Archaeology , displaying the underwater archaeology treasures amassed during the building's renovation.
The Knights, based on Rhodes, built the castle during Tamerlane's Mongol invasion of Anatolia (1402), which weakened the Ottomans and gave the order an opportunity to establish this foothold in Anatolia. They used marble and stones from Mausolus's famed mausoleum and changed the city's name from Halicarnassus to Petronium (hence the Turkicised 'Bodrum').
By 1437 they had finished building, although they added new defensive features (moats, walls, cisterns etc) right up until 1522, when Süleyman the Magnificent captured Rhodes. The Knights were forced to cede the castle, and the victorious Muslim sultan promptly built a mosque in it. For centuries, the castle was never tested, but French shelling in WWI toppled the minaret (the Turkish government re-erected it in 1997).
Spread around the castle, the attractively lit and informative museum has reconstructions and multimedia displays to complement the antiquities, and takes about two hours to see. It gets very busy and claustrophobic in the museum's small rooms, so get here early.
Main Court
Heading into the castle, you'll pass carved marble Crusader coats of arms . Next is the castle's main court, centred on an ancient mulberry tree. Here is a massive amphorae collection , with pieces from the 14th century BC to modern times, all recovered from southern-coast waters, and a courtyard cafe adorned with ancient statuary.
A tiny model, and a full-sized reconstruction, of a late-Roman ship's stern discovered off Yassıada are displayed in the chapel. Walk the decks, take the helm and inspect the galley and wine casks below.
Glass Wreck Hall & Glass Hall
Climbing towards the towers, you next come to the Glass Wreck Hall on the left. It houses a 16m-long, 5m-wide ship that sank in AD 1025, while carrying three tonnes of glass between Fatimid Syria and a Byzantine glass factory in the Danube or Black Sea. Archaeologists and historians were excited not only by what the find revealed about eleventh-century ship construction, but also for what it indicated about Fatimid glass production and design.
Next, the small Glass Hall exhibits finds from the 15th century BC to the 14th century AD, and includes Mycenaean beads, Roman glass bottles and Islamic weights.
French Tower & Carian Princess Hall
Beyond, the French Tower has finds from the Tektaş Burnu, the world's only fully excavated Classical Greek shipwreck (dating from 480 BC to 400 BC). Amphorae, talismanic marble discs and kitchen utensils from the vessel are displayed, plus 2001 excavation photos taken at the Çesme Peninsula site. Ancient coins (including from Croesus' Caria) are also on display.
The neighbouring Carian Princess Hall is a must-see, exhibiting a gold crown, necklace, bracelets, rings and an exquisite wreath of gold myrtle leaves. Popularly associated with the last Carian queen, Ada (reinstated by Alexander the Great after annexing Halicarnassus in 334 BC), they belonged to an unknown woman of status.
English Tower
Guarding the castle's southeast corner, the English Tower , also known as the Lion Tower, was built during the reign of King Henry IV of England (1399–1413). In 1401 Henry became the first (and only) English monarch to host a Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Palaeologos, and he took seriously Manuel's warning about the Muslim threat to Christian Europe posed by the Turks. The tower was thus a symbol of support for their common cause.
Today, the interior is fitted out as a medieval refectory, with a long dining table surrounded by suits of armour, stag horns, lions' heads and the standards of the Knights Hospitaller and their Turkish adversaries. Piped-in medieval music completes the farcical picture of a knightly theme restaurant. There is some interest, however, in the model of the Sovereign of the Seven Seas, a ship built on Charles I's orders in 1637, and the Latin graffiti, carved 500 years ago by the Knights Hospitaller.
Uluburun Wreck Hall
Turn left out of the tower to follow the battlements around the castle to the Glass Hall; carry straight on for the Uluburun Wreck Hall , which contains finds from Bronze Age shipwrecks, including the world's oldest excavated wreck, the14th-century BC Uluburun . Full-size replicas of the interior and the wreck site exist. The adjoining Treasure Room displays Canaanite gold jewellery, bronze daggers, ivory cosmetic boxes, wooden writing boards and Egyptian Queen Nefertiti's golden scarab.
Gatineau Tower & Snake Tower
Further north, enter the dungeons at Gatineau Tower , where the Knights imprisoned, and sometimes tortured, their enemies from 1513 to 1523. The inner gate's chilling inscription sums up the dungeon as being Inde Deus abest ('Where God does not exist'). Hold children's hands and mind your head – the steps down are steep and narrow.
On the way back to the exit, the Snake Tower displays more artefacts and statuary. Named after a snake carved in the stone, it was used as a hospital in the Ottoman era.
