28/05/2007

I'm back

I've just got back from a week dinghy sailing in Turkey. It was near Bodrum so I took the time to visit the town which was the ancient city of Helicarnassus.

The remains of the tomb of Mausolos, one of the ancient wonders of the world was not much to look at, as virtually nothing is left standing. Some of the best bits apparently are in the British Museum, but most of it was demolished for repairs to the castle

The main delight was the large castle of St Peter, which also contains the museum of underwater archeology. It was a major fortress during the Crusades and was held by the Knights of St John and only given up after the fall of Rhodes. It's strength was such that the Ottomans never directly beseiged it. It was also bombarded by the French in 1915 as part of an abortive landing attempt. It was restored in the 1960s.

http://www.bodrum-info.org/English/history/index.htm

Kos was only 4km away, just looking like an enormous ridge rising out of the water and made me think about it's involvement in the ill-fated Dodecanese campaign in 1943.

Will

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