A walking Tour of Bodrum Turkey 2020 | Turkey Travel series
I'd like to thank Readly for sponsoring this video, but more on that a little bit later on. Today we are in the Turkish city of Bodrum. Bodrum is located on Turkey's turquoise coast, it's a massive holiday destination! Bodrum is not only a city, it's a whole peninsula and whatever you thought you knew about Bodrum it's not what we thought about Bodrum!! We're Marianne and Chris and we've been traveling full-time since May 2018. It is the best atmosphere ever!! Whilst attempting to drive around the world in Trudy our home on wheels this happened All British travellers abroad are advised, advised to return now! As borders closed around us, we decided to wait it out in Turkey until we were able to continue our adventure East. It is absolutely storming a hooli out there, we've parked up back at our little spot here just outside a of Bodrum and you can see. look the mud flowing into the water down
there has discoloured it, but you can't see anything out there across the bay here. It is literally hammering down, we did spring a little leak in the roof vent here, it's never leaked before so i think it's probably just because it's driving rain. We'll try and see if we can have a look at that when it stops raining. All right love? the van's rocking! the van is a rocking! It doesn't matter where you are in Turkey, in a city or in the countryside you will always find a shepherd and his sheep. We're just walking along and we found this really cool looking domed building.
So we're just reading the board here and it's actually an old system and you can see in actually there's water in there, it goes really deep and the acoustics sound amazing. So this system was actually built in the 1800s it says and it collects water by it running down the dome and then it goes through these holes, they're not actually for light they're to collect the water and they go all the way around. Apparently it can collect 25 cubic meters of rain a year based on the average rainfall here. We've done quite a lot of Turkey now, not all of it, but we've done quite a lot and it's funny how different everywhere and the foliage and fauna and flora, it's all so different and cacti is something that is new, we're just seeing it now as we hit this part of Turkey, look at the size of them, they're absolutely massive, from the cistern up here, you get a great view of the beach and the bay below us. We actually have been sleeping down this peninsula in the distance over here and we've driven up this morning and parked in a car park here and walked up this hill. There's the cistern and the main harbour castle and everything is just down the other side, so that's the way we're heading now.
We're just coming to town down by the marina and this garden's lovely! Serious cacti ... wow they're really, really strong, it's a big one isn't it? Oh there's loads of really super smart restaurants, bars and cafes. All the way along at the bottom of each tree there is a mosaic flowerpot all the way along here, that is so cool! Look there's even like a mouse, a cat, i just love it! We're down by the Bodrum marina and we've just got a first glimpse of the castle through the mast of the boat so that's going to be a very arty shot! As you walk along, they've got a nice promenade, we've come across all the boats now and they'd be used for charters to go off, oh there you go, daily and weekly yacht charters. We've been lucky today that the rain has actually stopped. Oh there's a car ferry to Datca there you go, yeah a lot of people told us we should get the car ferry over to Dacha and this is where they go from because there's a couple of ferries here.
Dacha is on the peninsula down under us, by Marmaris which is where we're going to be heading after this. So Marianne's just asked the kiosk how much the ferry to Datca, it would be 400 TL and takes approximately one hour 45 minutes, and that was a price for a mini bus plus two people. So one of the things that we have to do is keep our vehicle insurance renewed on the road and Trudy's insurance is running out, so we've found an insurance company, so we're just going to go inside and check out if we can renew her insurance for another six months to finish our stay here in Turkey. So their particular office couldn't do the insurance, but what they have done is they've kept our details they made a few phone calls and with Ersels help translating, they are going to make some phone calls and we're going to go back in an hour or so.
And so fingers crossed, they can renew the insurance for us and also the boss speaks French so I was able to do a bit with French as well, yeah that really helps! So we've wandered down to the end of the harbour here in Bodrum to Saint Peter's castle, which you can see behind me. So we're going to go and have a little look around and in fact we're also going to visit the museum of underwater archaeology, there you go and I'm laughing because I just spent five minutes trying to say archaeology, i just couldn't get the words out this morning! So entry was 65 TL unless you got a museum pass and then it's all included, it's always worth getting a museum pass, if you're planning to visit multiple sites and the museum and the castle is all the same entrance they're both located in exactly the same place. As you climb up through the tower, to go up the steps to go into the fortification. I had absolutely no idea that I was coming up to this, look at this! This is a lovely view, this is a view of Bodrum marina, we parked on the other side of this peninsula here and we've walked all the way around this morning down here, around the bay.
look at the colour of that water, that is so clear and that is the Turquoise coast. Looking online, this castle was actually built by the Knights of Saint John and that probably explains all the shields that are dotted around on the walls, and apparently it was built in the early 15th century. If there's any doubt, how many people have been in here look it's been worn out! You can actually see footprints. I don't know about you, but in the wall they've got these great big open windows and just look at that! Isn't there just something hypnotic and relaxing about the sound of the sea! There have been lots of things that have surprised us here in Turkey, but I did not think I was going to be seeing white peacocks, are they peacocks? They're babies, look at them, they're little babies, they've got really smooth feet, I don't know what they are comments below! We've come into this wonderful looking courtyard with huge pots and relics, lovely trees and this building here looks fascinating. It looks like an old mosque, in fact i think it must be, because of the the tower here I think the tower is new, oh maybe, maybe it's been turned into a mosque? You can actually go in, Marianne has just gone in, the door's open. Oh look at this! Must have been a church or a mosque, it's got a churchy feel doesn't it? it feels like a church, if this was built by the knights of Saint John, I'm thinking it was a church, yeah they've got some relics in the floor here, just showing the old walls.
Look at these olives, they're just all starting to change different colours, you've got green ones and slightly red ones, black ones really nice. Come into the museum and there are pea hens on display! not sure you've got a museum card and that you should be here. That's amazing, so we've just come up here, climbed up a bit higher, what a view! Look at that over the harbour then towards the town, it does we're going to see I think you can go up to the top of the tower, so we'll go up and have a look up there. You can see in the distance the amphitheater, we're going to try and see if we can get up there, amazing views. I said this is the museum of underwater archaeology you got the old dive master there, imagine going scuba diving with that, look how heavy that would be on your head! Oh it's closed, oh it's closed, uh okay no problem. They're working on the exhibition, so there you go, there you go we managed to get a quick look in, unfortunately the museum the underwater part is actually closed, They're doing some maintenance work, again the joy of Covid and low season, in fact we've only seen one other couple in the whole of the castle since we've been here.
It is so quiet here at the moment, in fact there's more peacocks than people! There is definitely. So that was a lovely castle to walk around, very well maintained, really interesting, we were super lucky to have it to ourselves. If you come to Bodrum I would definitely recommend having a walk around. I can imagine at sunset you would get the most beautiful sunsets overlooking the town, or if not if you just want an aerial view or a different perspective of Bodrum city then that is definitely the place to go. When we were in the insurance company one of the things they said is "are you popping over to Greece?" Now we thought all of the ferries were closed to go to Greece, so we're just going to find out, apparently they are still running a couple of times a week, it would be great to take Trudy to one of the Greek islands to get a stamp in the passport. So
we're just going to go and have a look. So unfortunately, we were correct, there are no car ferries going over to the Greek islands, so that is not an option for us to get the driving license stamp in our passport, Yeah it's still okay until February, but we're trying to plan alternative scenarios. We've been contacted by the insurance company that we went to this morning that's looking at our insurance, unfortunately they can't get it, so Captain Ersel our friend in Istanbul, Superman Ersel is doing his bit and is calling around for us. They have these announcements in the town and I'm not actually sure what they are. So we're just walking along and we just saw this stand selling something and the queue is massive, so we thought we should give it a go, so these are lokma, I have heard of these before, they look like, they look like little mini donuts, they look really good! Go on give them a bash, they smell sweet, what are they like? they are sweet! Mini donuts covered in sugar on the outside, I may not share! Arrh Marianne only wanted to get one packet because she said we may not like them just for the record! Oh my lord! Lokma, they are seriously good! they are seriously .... we haven't had these before, who needs a stick ... I definitely recommend that, it's still hot.
Okay so that is good, so we've come back, we've gone to another insurance company and they can do it! It's possible, which is a brilliant thing, but it's very expensive and .... Ersel, I've just spoken to Ersel and he's managed to get hold of the insurance company we used before, yeah, and to continue the same insurance policy, it's still going to be the same price as last time! Amazing, he's already said yes, oh there you go! He's going to, so it should be good for us and let us know when it's done! Yeah this area that we've wandered up to is the shopping area, there is a pedestrian crossing and I don't know why we're not using it! I'm going, ah dogs having their little water! We're going to grab a kebab for lunch, because it's easier to it's easier to eat, yeah beautiful thank you very much! So although all the restaurants are closed at the moment, you can still get takeouts which is great, because I'm starving! We haven't actually had breakfast or lunch today and it's like 2.30 in the afternoon! Starving! So we've just spotted this market by the bus station, selling loads of fruit and vegetables, so Marianne's just going to go and buy some mandarins Very nice! The fruit you get in the local markets is so much better than the big supermarkets, so if you do get the chance it's definitely better stopping at one of the street side stalls or one of the little fruit and veg markets, and they're always the characters, they always just like you know banter with you and stuff. I love it, i love it! So we've wandered up the hill to the top of town and we've stopped off to eat the kebab, it's not the prettiest place we've stopped.
There's a reason, there is, we got a message on instagram from a radio presenter that said "can we come on to their show this evening - i've heard you're in Bodrum that means people are actually watching the videos, no way, that's good. Although we haven't done any videos on Bodrum yet! it's instagram stories, yeah it's insta, so we're going, we're going to hang around here for half an hour and then do a little radio show before having a wander back. We've actually got a long walk back to the van, it's not glamorous this youtube thing you know! I know we might have to take a taxi, i think we're about three miles from the van, we've done a lot of walking today. Oh yeah look at that, nice and everything it's supposed to taste like. So that's who we're going to see Radio Eko it's apparently a Turkish talking radio station, which could be interesting I'm not sure how that's going to go, that's part of the adventure! We just get invites and one of our mottos is never say no! unless it's drugs kids! Yeah and that is it, you just got to go with it, I don't know where we're going, where is the entrance? oh it must be .... that's a bank .... No it's not round there, we do this every time, we go somewhere they always say it's above this place, and we never know I would like to thank Readly our new friends, for helping us and sponsoring us for this video, which helps to support us on our drive around the world.
If you haven't heard of Readly it's a fantastic online digital magazine subscription that you can use on your tablet or on your phone, there are over 5 000 titles available so there is literally something for everyone. One thing that I really miss since moving into Trudy is having that subscription magazine fall on the mat every month, I really enjoyed curling up in front of the log fire when Chris was busy, as he is now editing the next video. And obviously in Trudy there is no room, no space and of course no postal address, but with Readly having over 5 000 national and international titles, i have a plethora at my fingertips! Two of my favourite things that I want to share with you that I've really enjoyed is the travel section, the magazines available! Chris and I've been talking about once we've done this around the world drive, maybe picking up our backpacks again and going travelling to Asia.
And the Philippines is somewhere that I've never been that I really want to go to and there's loads of articles, so i'm getting really excited about future adventures. The other magazine that I'm really enjoying is Campervan because although we live and breathe Campervan life, it's really exciting to see the new products that are on the market and also the potential for future electric vans. There are lots of features on Readly such as bookmarking, which is great because you can come straight back where you left off and also you can save your favourite magazines, also you have access to a massive library of older articles, and older editions of the magazines that you love.
Now you can have up to five different profiles, which means you can share it with your friends and family it's £7.99 for a month, you can cancel it at any time, so there's absolutely no tie-in to some big contract, and if you are interested in subscribing to Readly there is a link below that will give you access to one month's free subscription! We hope you've enjoyed this episode make sure you join us on the next one because I try some very interesting food, not for everybody, but definitely worth a watch! We hope you've enjoyed this episode, if you have and you enjoy our content please consider subscribing and clicking the thumbs up, or the bell notification, so you don't miss a future episode and we look forward to seeing you next time.
2021-01-03 09:43
