Bodrum (Part 2) – St Peter’s Castle

With our time in Bodrum restricted, once we had got the priority boat admin sorted out, our stroll around the town took us to “the absolute must see” site of the castle which dominates the harbour.

The Knights of St John started building St Peter’s castle in 1406 on the site of an older Byzantine castle. Building continued until 1522 and the castle was renowned as the strongest in the Mediterranean. To reach the centre you have to pass through seven gates and lines of defences. There are 5 major towers, each built by a different nation, and adorning the walls are carved 249 coats of arms for the various Grand Masters of the Knights of St John and his castle commanders. The castle was manned by 50 Knights of St John and around 150 of their soldiers.

Despite its strength, the demise of the influence and power of the crusaders in the region isolated the castle, particularly after Rhodes was captured by the Turks. The castle was therefore handed over to the Turks on 5^th January 1523 without a fight. Subsequently, in the Ottoman period, the castle lost its significance because the Ottoman empire extended well to the south.

The castle remained largely unchanged by its new Turkish owners except for converting the church to a mosque. Later, in 1895, the castle became a prison with 700 prisoners and 50 guards and a Turkish bath house for built their use.

The most damage inflicted on the castle was by the French battleship Duplex which shelled the castle on 26 May 1915. More recently, in the early 1960s, the castle was used for storing artifacts before becoming a museum in 1964.

Today the museum contains the world’s largest collection of artifacts from underwater excavation. Some of the artifacts were raised by sponge divers but, starting in the 1960s, there were a series of scientific underwater excavations of ancient shipwreck sites: at Finike-Gelidonya a 12^th century BC shipwreck; at Bodrum-Yassiada a 7^th century AD Byzantine shipwreck, a 4^th century AD late Roman shipwreck and a 16^th century AD Ottoman shipwreck; at Finike-şeytan a 16^th century BC Deresi shipwreck; at Marmaris Serçe Limani an 11^th century AD glass shipwreck and a 3^rd century BC Hellenistic shipwreck; and, finally, at Kas-Uluburun a 14^th century BC shipwreck. We have already anchored in some of these locations and had heard about the shipwrecks so were very much looking forward to seeing what had been raised.

Serçe Limani harbour 11^th century AD shipwreck

The Serçe Limani harbour 11^th century AD shipwreck was one of those and the display was excellent, showing the large collection of over 200 different kinds of glass containers found and nearly 2 tonnes of broken glass nuggets (raw material for reworking).

Glass from various 14^th century BC and 11^th century AD shipwrecks

The underwater archaelogical displays are set up in the various castle buildings so between each display you are wandering through the grounds of the castle (which are a botanical garden) and climbing the towers.

12^th and 14^th century BC shipwreck artefacts

The 12^th and 14^th century BC shipwreck display was also very impressive. As well as copper and lead ingots and a large collection of earthenware jars, Bronze Age weapons, a golden cup and other jewellery were found. The display showed how one of the ships was loaded before it capsized and then how the artefacts were arrayed on the seabed.

Carian Princess hall

In 1989, during excavations at one of the entrances to the city, a stone sarcophagus was found which contained the remains of Queen Ada. She governed Caria in 344-341 BC. The display room was laid out like her banqueting hall. It contained the sarcophagus, her remains (and those of a mouse which was trapped when the lid was lowered), her golden crown and jewellery. The University of Manchester completed an analysis of the remains and, as well as confirming that it was Queen Ada, they also made an anatomically correct reconstruction of her which stands at the end of the room. It was very different to the underwater archaelogical displays but equally interesting to look at.

English Tower

The castle’s English Tower, begun in Henry IV’s time, is laid out inside with an assortment of armour and weapons. Deep below the castle is a dungeon and torture chamber, and throughout the grounds are old anchors, amphora and other displays. It really was a fantastic place to visit and, of course, from the tops of the towers we had great views across the harbour.

After 2 nights in Bodrum our time was up and we were ready to move on. The forecast for the following week was not great with strong winds expected from the north so we needed to take advantage of the next day’s strong southeasterly wind to help us move north up the Turkish coast.

Bodrum, Turkey