Bodrum is our second Turkish port on this cruise. We are the only ship here, later we gather the shopkeepers are very unhappy it is a quiet day, but that is part of the Seabourn magic – they will do their best to schedule visits when other ships aren’t, although of course it isn’t always possible.
Bodrum was previously known as Halicarnassus and dates back to around 500 BC. Nowadays it is a small city with a focus on tourism, and we are quite impressed with the upmarket feel it has.
Walking from the port we pass nice houses and apartments, a long row of restaurants and then as we enter town, we walk through the shopping bazaar which is vast and full of handbags, watches, sports shoes, leather goods, designer dresses – all fake of course!! We know one Lady who bought ten fake handbags “so much better spending £2,000 than £25,000” she quipped later. I won’t name names!!
Round the corner is the castle, built by the Knights Hospitaller during the Crusades, and is now a museum dedicated to oceanic archaeology. We decide we’ve done enough castles this holiday, and the city has some interesting other features we need to explore.
Before we reach target number one, we stumble upon a mosaic on a side street, nothing to explain it and nothing on Google either!
Our first planned relic is the gate, the only remaining one from the seven kilometre long city wall. Built by King Mausoleos, of whom you’ll hear more shortly, Alexander the Great destroyed some of it a few years later, and a massive earthquake finished the job two hundred years later.
Moving on, we wander around the town‘s motorway until reaching the Antique Theatre, which is fully rigged, amazingly we have free entry. Of course the kit is all stowed and locked into flight cases. Imagine the experience of a performance here with the views over town back to the castle and sea behind! It originally seated 10,000, was lost for a long time and reclaimed from the overgrowth in the 1970s. Nowadays it can hold just short of 4,000 people.
Finally we start our drop back into town stopping off at the the tomb of King Mausoleos, built by his wife and sister (they were the same person) in his honour. It’s from this we get the word Mausoleum. Little survived the earthquake, anything precious was soon looted, and those pesky Knights took much of the crumbled remainder to build their castle. All that remains of what was a magnificent structure is the footprint and some portions of the columns. And it was truly magnificent, standing 45m tall and 19m wide with 36 columns.
All this walking is in 38 degrees again, and by now we have had enough, so stop for an ice cream and then commence our return to Encore. The shopkeepers were polite and friendly this morning, by now they are quite predatory, we walk purposefully and avoid eye-contact as much as possible, never hesitate and certainly don’t stop!
Our afternoon has the regular sax and bone sailaway which we enjoy from the jacuzzi this time, but have to go in early because it’s an early call for dinner. This time my review attracts no adverse comments, of course the three idiots from two weeks ago will not see it as I blocked them forever.
“Tonight is another opportunity to dine under the stars, although as mentioned two weeks ago this is a massive mis-sell since neither sky nor stars are likely to be seen under the awning of the retreat
We arrive for a cocktail, this time a grapefruit concoction served in a champagne saucer which is lovely. Although cocktail tables are set no-one else is playing, so we are left to amuse ourselves until chef Bala and head sommelier Anatolii introduce their menu.
First it is caviar in the cloud, which is very good. The combination of crumble, crab and caviar sets the barre high, unfortunately higher than the accompanying Crystal Rosé, another one of those champagnes that has its own superiority complex.
Next we meet the antithesis, sadly the mushroom terrine and foie gras is a huge disappointment, the proportions are all wrong and the inclusion of duck fat is a real turn off. The Gewürztraminer is fabulous however, a perfect combination of sweetness and acidity.
We move on to agnolotti, stuffed with mushy peas (that’s kind-of a Yorkshire joke) and served with gorgeous ham, this could be the winning course! Anatolii has paired this with Barolo and he has hit the spot, it’s a wonderful wine and a fabulous match too.
A quick melon sorbet fixes our palates, with champagne of course.
Main is a little underwhelming – chef told us it has been cooking for two and a half hours, which for me is too long to Sous Vide pork loin, and the texture confirms this. In principle it should be good, but in fact it’s beyond, sometime less is more and tonight we’re not amused, especially served on cold plates. However the caramelised sprouts are fabulous, as is the sweet potato mash and of course the wine (which is why we’re here) is a relatively unknown and tiny right-bank which we all agree is great. La Mandotte is a wonderful St Emillion premier cru, which outshines the food.
Pudding is once again an asiette, tonight of tiramisu, praline mousse and ganache. The wine from Santorini is gorgeous and brings sunshine to our table.
Overall, the wines are excellent and of course that’s what we paid for, unfortunately the food let’s things down on a few courses. The retreat isn’t really a suitable place to serve dinner, it’s too windy and far from the kitchens. However once in a while it’s a fun change from regular dining, just stick to deck five aft in future.”
