Bodrum Castle and the Museum of Underwater Archaeology

Bodrum Castle, also called the Castle of St Peter or Petronium, is the landmark that gives the town its name and its skyline. The Knights of St John raised it between 1406 and 1522 on a small rocky peninsula between two sheltered harbours, and when they built it they reused stones from the ruined Mausoleum of Halicarnassus nearby. The castle is double-walled on every side but the east, with seven gates leading into the inner stronghold, and its towers are named for the nations that built them: French, Italian, English, German and Spanish, the last known as the Snake Tower. The knights left on 5 January 1523 after the Ottomans took Rhodes, and the fortress later served as a prison before French and English shells damaged it in May 1915. Today it houses the Museum of Underwater Archaeology, whose galleries are spread through the courtyards, towers and vaulted halls. Shipwreck cargoes recovered from the Aegean, amphorae, glassware and the finds of Bronze Age and medieval wrecks are displayed among the knights' halls, and the English Tower has an exhibition explaining how the castle was built and who the knights were. Climb the battlements for views over both harbours, the marina and the whitewashed town.

The history repays the climb. Herodotus, born in ancient Halicarnassus, wrote that Dorian settlers founded the city around 1000 BC on the site where the castle now stands, when it was still an island, and the castle's later layers are all visible on the walk through: Gothic knights' buildings, ancient fragments built into the walls, fourteen cisterns in the inner stronghold, a drawbridge and moat, and an Ottoman bath added in the late nineteenth century. Allow time for the coats of arms above the gates, carved with crosses, dragons and lions, and for the quiet corners of the courtyards, where peacocks and cats have the run of the place.

In winter that means a full morning or afternoon is easy, but arrive by early afternoon so you are not rushed in the last galleries. Wear flat, grippy shoes, because the stone ramps and steps are uneven and slippery when wet.

Pair it with the rest of the old town: the castle sits at the end of the marina promenade, a short walk from the bazaar streets, the Bar Street beach and the Myndos Gate and ancient theatre on the town's edges. The Mausoleum site is about fifteen minutes away on foot, and its stones are literally part of the castle walls, which makes a good thread for a half-day of ancient Halicarnassus. Photographers should aim for the walk along the western harbour wall in late afternoon, when the light warms the towers.