We headed south out of Izmir and stopped at a small, mountain village near Selcuk named Sirince, which has been restored and had development controlled to keep it villagey-looking and quaintish. They have done a good job, but there’s not much there except more shopping.
After another two hours, we lunched at lakeside, Natura Panorama Restaurant. Lake Bafa is a brackish lake that was a bay that was silted in at the open end to make it a lake. Nice lunch.
Another hour in the bus brought us to Bodrum, a prosperous, coastal, resort city with a bay on either side of a central peninsula. The hillsides rising up from the sea are all covered with white buildings with tile roofs and lots flowers. Both bays are filled with sailboats. The castle on the peninsula was built by the crusaders and later taken by the Ottoman Empire. The castle is now the Museum of Underwater Archaeology. Several sunken ships have been recovered from as far back as the Bronze Age, 3000 BCE. Recovered artifacts and even parts of the ships are on display.
We spent a few hours there after checking into the Marmara Hotel. It’s a lovely place overlooking the whole city. A group dinner in the downtown restaurant district finished the night.
Crusader Castle.
The bay to the south.
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