Moon Istanbul & the Turkish Coast by Leeann Murphy

Author:Leeann Murphy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avalon Travel
Published: 2014-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

SIGHTS

Visiting most of Bodrum’s outdoor sites will require walking up hills and steps that have minimal shade. Bring water and wear sunscreen and a hat.

As you explore the peninsula, keep an eye out for the white low-rise domes that can be seen from major roads. These structures are Ottoman water cisterns, once used to collect and store water for livestock and irrigation.

Castle of St. Peter

Bodrum’s main attraction, the Castle of St. Peter, is one of the largest and best preserved castles of the Knights of St. John, and hands-down the world’s best archaeology museum for underwater artifacts. The garrison, also referred to as Bodrum Castle, lies atop an earlier Selçukian fort on what was once the island of Zephyria, named after Zephyros, the Hellenic god of the western wind. This spot was chosen by the knights and bankrolled by their various European duchies and the Vatican for a new garrison after they lost their foothold in İzmir to Tamerlane and his rapacious Mongol troops in 1402. According to historians, the knights were handed free reign of the littoral by Ottoman Sultan Mehmet Celebi, who also feared the wrath of the Mongols. Pope Callixtus III, intent on renewing a crusade against the westward-marching Turks, personally appointed German knight and architect Heinrich Schlegelholt to launch the project. The pontiff even went as far as to guarantee laborers eternal life in heaven for their holy “participation.” It took decades for the fortress, originally a set of moats and fortifications, to reach its current size. In 1522, just months before the mighty Ottoman army of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent captured most of the eastern Mediterranean, the knights uncovered Mausolus’s burial chamber and its treasure while searching nearby for additional stones to strengthen the garrison. The fortress became a prison under the Ottomans, and storage space for numerous undersea finds after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s rise to power in 1923. The 600-year-old castle has remarkably withstood time and repeated earthquakes. With more than 240 coats of arms, varied inscriptions, and armor along the garrison’s five towers, the interior and exterior spaces make the fortress a leading example of medieval European history.

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