Virtual exercise. A walk in the Bodrum Hills.

I read somewhere this year that thinking about exercise was healthy, so as you prepare to stuff yourselves over the next 24 hours, I shall take you on a virtual hike into the hills above Bodrum to help you burn off all those extra calories.

We are starting on the main dual carriageway that used to run behind Bodrum, and now finds itself in places almost centrally dissecting the town.  Crossing this road is fun as the traffic lights get you to follow the green man as far as the central reservation and then abandon you to make your own way after that. We are taking the road leading up to the State Hospital,  a trip I hope none of us ever makes accompanied by flashing blue lights. At the top we turn left and walk through the hospital car park and continue the climb upwards. The view from here isn't too impressive as the eye focusses on all the  satellite dishes, water tanks and criss-crossing telephone and electricity wires that blight every Turkish town.   We keep on the path until faced with a padlocked gate, following the fence to the left there is an open gate, and after a scramble over some rubble we turn and are rewarded with the classic view of Bodrum castle.  This path is on the Carian Trail so every few 100 meters, we pass the red and white marks on rocks and trees.  We aren't the only ones enjoying the view, we pass a jolly chap in a bright red jumper, who has brought along a bottle of beer and is merrily telephoning his friends and telling them where he is enjoying his drink.  At the top of this hill we come to a fork, take the left and then almost immediate a right for some serious climbing up a 45 degree fire-break.  Hard on the knees but worth the effort for the panoramic view of Bodrum, Gümbet, Konacık and Kos.  If we had another few hours to spare we could carry on to Pedasa, but we are content to sit and drink coffee, watching Bodrum from its most photogenic angle.  It's taken 75 minutes to get up here, and the walk back will be another hour as steep slopes are almost as difficult to get down as up.  If it ever snows properly, we'll be up here with our skis.  

Our coffee break was taken somewhere on the top of the hill on the right. 

Wishing you all festive cheer this week, regardless of the pretext you are using to eat, drink and be merry. 

Termera - The facts.

I apologise in advance if this is a bit dry,  I've condensed the salient points as much as I can to stop you dropping off. 

As we stalwart walkers made our way up the almost imperceptible  rough path to the ancient walls of Termera,  it was easy to appreciate the strategic importance of this site. Surrounded by fertile arable land and overlooking the present day Greek Islands, Termera was for a time, the richest settlement in the area, paying 2.5 talents to the Delian League in 447BC. Like the other 7 Lelegian towns around ancient Halikarnasus, Termera consists of an inner fort on a defendable peak, surrounded by thick stone walls and naturally treacherous  descents.  Following the line of the walls we came to a stop at a rock tomb fronted by a recent excavation trench.  After 10 years of land surveys, Dr Adnan Diler from Muğla University became concerned at the extent of the illegal treasure hunting in the area and with the support of Turgutreis Town Council and the Archaeology team at Bodrum Castle, he obtained permission to start digging to preserve what remains of this settlement.  His first season in 2012 has already produced evidence of occupation from 7th Century BC.  Historical sources tell us that Termera was ruled by  Tymnes, his son Histiaios and grandson Tymnes in the 6th and 5th centuries BC  and we have physical evidence that this dynasty produced coinage in the shape of a silver coin with a kneeling figure of Herakles and the word TYMNO on one side and a lion's head and TEPMEPIKON on the other.  Charles Thomas Newton relates in his diaries how he bought the coin from a merchant in Kos in the 1850s.  It is now in the British Museum. In the report of his discoveries in Halikarnasus, Newton mistakes Aspat Hill on the coast as the site of Termera.  Later excavations identify the present site on Asarlık Hill.

While researching the site, one phrase turns up again and again; "Termeran Evil" or "Termeran Mischief". A term I hadn't come across before but refers to an action where an evil doer is given a taste of their own medicine.  The myth being that Termenos, (who could be Tymnes 1st )  the founder of Termera,  a "Lelegian of beastly nature" and a notorious pirate was fond of getting rid of his enemies by cracking their skulls with a lethal head-butt.  Herakles killed Termenos by first drugging him and then crushing his skull.  George Bean puts forward the theory that the phrase reflects the suffering of the people of Termera when Mausolos forced the population to leave their homes and move to his new capital Halikarnasus.  A return being permanently blocked when he turned their city into a prison.  Evidence from past excavations seems to prove that the city population was much reduced in the 4th century BC. 

As usual I read up on the site after I visited so a second trip will have to be made as there is a 9 metre long, double vaulted cistern and several tombs which we didn't get to see.  This time I will drive to the village of Mandira and try the shorter, less precipitous route to the top.

Walking with friends.

I don't usually do group walks as I prefer to wander around at  my own pace, but when H3A announced that they were walking to the ancient Lelegian town of Termera, accompanied by two archaeologists who had been involved in a recent rescue excavation on the site, I was keen to join in.  It's always a joy to visit a site with an up-to-date source of information, rather than second-hand knowledge trawled from the internet. It would also be a novelty to walk cross-country to a Lelegian or Carian site without getting lost en-route. 

The walk, initially planned for the end of January, was postponed twice because of heavy rain so it was the end of February by the time we all convened in the village of Akçaalan above Turgutreis to start  the ascent.  The head count was an impressive 50, which is an amazing number for a Sunday in February, unfortunately this figure did not include the two archaeologists, who couldn't attend so we were without our experts. 

After a brief pep-talk by team leader Ali Bey, with a reminder to not disturb any relics, we were off at a brisk pace.  I'd arrived with a friend I've known for 30 plus years, and we happily strode forth, chatting all the way. With several other old friends and a sprinkling of new ones in the group, I realised that walking en masse is actually a very enjoyable activity. Especially in beautiful spring sunshine, surrounded by blossom and wild flowers. I was without my walking boots as I'd left them in the village so was attempting the walk in wellies,  but had good reason to appreciate my forgetfulness when the path turned into a stream. 

After about 40 minutes, our merry group came to a halt as our path petered out. We'd obviously missed a turning.  I'm so glad that it's not only me that gets lost on the way to these sites.  An adventurous group of four, plus Jake the dog, set off cross-country uphill, while the rest of us turned around, retraced our steps, stopped for a group photo, picked some wild thyme, took pictures of the anemones, discussed the current political state of Turkey, found the correct path and eventually met the intrepid foursome plus dog on their way down. 

The dog lead was handed over and Jake made his second climb of the day.  If any animal deserves an honorary doctorate in archaeological studies, this dog does. 

View from Temera. 

Next time I'll post a few details of the site, (after a bit of internet trawling) . 

H3A's Facebook Page with more photos of the walk.

The Carian Trail

http://www.kariayolu.com/

The Carian Trail was officially opened this week. A 800 km route through the counties of Muğla and Aydin, this trail passes through villages, countryside and mountains and aims to spread some of the income from tourism presently concentrated on the coast, to the inland areas.  As you can see from the Karia Yolu map above, Bodrum is not on the main route, but it does branch off to encompass our Carian history and take in  Theangela and Ceremos. 

The finished way will have international path signs every 50 metres and 220 signposts  to keep travellers from getting lost.  It's an exciting project which has been relatively low key up to now.  A guide book to the route is being published and should be available in 2 months. 

This initiative is presumably inspired by the The Lycian Way made by Kate Clow, which runs along the Mediterranean Coast.  In the past couple of months,  part of the Lycian Way has been bulldozed to make way for a large hotel, so finger-crossed the Carian Way doesn't open up our so far unspoilt interior to the developers diggers.