Our first stop in Turkey was the little coastal port-town of Bodrum. The sun came with us from Santorini, so we were quite pleased about that. Bodrum in general is a summer time resort/vacation spot for wealthy Europeans and UAE oil magnates. Some of the yachts in the harbor were truly impressive.
(Above, the Bodrum harbor as seen from atop the old castle).As I mentioned, it was sunny and there was clear blue water for as far as the eye can see:
There is an old castle/fort situated along the coast that we wandered through, I think the coolest thing we saw were these amazing peacocks. One was all white and the other was the most colorful bird I've ever seen with these impossibly long tail feathers. They make funny noises by bird standards.
Bodrum is also the sighte of ancient Helicarnassus. One of the ancient wonders of the world, the Tomb of King Mausalos, is no longer around but the stones used in its contstruction are still lying around. Apparently it was the most over-the-top tomb ever. It's where we get the word mausoleum:
And not far from the first mausoleum in the world is the ancient amphitheater. Much smaller than the one in Athens, but very cool just the same:
We stayed at an awesome, awesome hostel in Bodrum where we met a bunch of other travellers and we partied one night like it was the last night of our lives. I had a conversation with some 18-year-old Danish kid and he told me it is just about every Dane's dream to go to California. I told him damn straight.
Altogether, Bodrum was a nice introduction to Turkey. I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly the Turkish locals were, and was also quite enthused to discover that Turkish cuisine is centered around spicy food. In case I never mentioned it before, I love spicy food.
Before we knew it, we were on an early morning bus heading to the oldest city... ever?
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