First Professional Haircut In 18 Years

First order of business of the day was to get breakfast – San Sebastian cheesecake with Turkish coffee. Excellent combination!

With that out of the way, we were off to check out the Museum of Underwater Archaeology set in the Bodrum Castle.

A little bit of background. The Bodrum Castle was built by the Knights of St. John in the beginning of the 15th century AD. Materials such as green volcanic stone, marble columns, and reliefs were plundered from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus to build this castle (the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, built after 353 BC upon King Mausolos’ death, stood at 150 ft in height, and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), leaving the mausoleum in a pile of fallen masonry and broken columns.

The Knights were a multinational order from different European countries (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish), and there are 249 different coats of arms representing the individuals and their respective families scattered throughout the castle.

The Museum of Underwater Archaeology displays the sunken cargoes of ancient and medieval shipwrecks from around the Aegean Sea, as well as artifacts of necropolises. Joe and I realized that with time we have begun to appreciate these historical relics that paint a story. Had we visited this museum 10 years ago, we would have been in and out of the museum in under an hour. However, we managed to spend 2 hours in the museum today.

Luckily, photos were allowed.

The Serçe Limani glass wreck took over 10 years to put together

And these are the glass vessels that were discovered and painstakingly put back together

Ships from different time periods have run aground in the same area, and the excavated relics give you a sense of history and advancements over time.

Necropolises give you insight into how wealthy a certain time period was by looking at what was buried along with the dead.

A porcupine shaped perfume bottle from 7th century BC

A seal ring from 4th century BC made of grey quartz with an image of Aphrodite carved into it

As we were exiting the museum grounds, this little fella sought us out, and eventually made itself comfortable on our laps purring with contentment.

After leaving the museum, we stumbled upon a nondescript eatery for lunch (we avoid restaurants along the tourists’ drag at all cost). The food was delicious and priced very reasonably at 80 TL.

A different cat decided to try its luck in getting some food from us.

Then it was time for Joe to get a haircut. For the 18 years we’ve been together, Joe has always cut his own hair using clippers. It has been 3 weeks since he last trimmed it. It was time for the barber.