» Day 5 – Fethiye / Bodrum (Caria) (B,L,D)

Bodrum, the ancient Halicarnassus, is today a perfect holiday resort, situated as it is in a sheltered port, with little white houses on the slopes of the mountains, bougainvillea everywhere and an important history that dates back to the early 1st millennium BC. We visit a fortress built in the 15th century by the Knights of the Kingdom of Jerusalem on an isthmus between the two ports. Today it hosts the Museum of Submarine Archaeology and findings dating back to the Age of Bronze, large jars, amphorae and other objects recovered from two large ships sunk between 2000 and 1500 BC. One of the towers displays  a beautiful collection of glass objects recovered from a ship sunk at the beginning of the 11th century. The symbol of ancient Halicarnassus, the Tomb of Mausolus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is more disappointing; built in 355 BC, it was destroyed by earthquakes and then used as a stone quarry for the Castle of Saint Peter. We will dine and spend the night at our hotel..