Bodrum
Ancient Halicarnassus; Site Of The Mausoleum, One Of The Seven Wonders Of The Ancient World, And Of The Knights Hospitaller Castle Of St Peter · Bodrum, Mugla
Bodrum is built on Halicarnassus, which gave the world Herodotus and the Mausoleum of Mausolus - a tomb so extravagant that the man's name became the word for a monumental grave, and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Earthquakes brought it down and the Knights Hospitaller carted the stone away to build the Castle of St Peter, which still sits on the promontory between the two bays and now holds the Museum of Underwater Archaeology, including the Uluburun wreck, a Bronze Age trading ship of around 1300 BC whose cargo rewrote what was known about Mediterranean trade. Around all that is a whitewashed resort town that invented the Blue Cruise, keeps a gulet fleet in the harbour, and turns into two quite different places depending on which bay of the peninsula you choose - superyachts at Yalikavak, fish restaurants over sunken ruins at Gumusluk, and an Istanbul crowd at Turkbuku.
Cumhuriyet Caddesi, Bodrum Kalesi, Bodrum, Bodrum, Mugla, Turkiye
The town is open at all hours. Bodrum Castle and the Museum of Underwater Archaeology keep museum hours with a weekly closing day and have been through a long restoration with sections opening in stages - confirm what is open. The Mausoleum site and the ancient theatre keep daytime hours. Boats, most hotels and much of the nightlife run from about April to October only.