27 February 2015 - One of the seven wonders of the ancient world and an infestation

Sunshine!!  What a lovely spring morning greeted us.  Tim and I enjoyed an early walk through the backstreets near the port and discovered all sorts of interesting everyday things!.

The Traditional Turkish Evil Eye/Eye of Allah, which apparently protects against evil forces is everywhere here in Bodrum.  It is a belief dating back to the Ancient Egypt and is believed to protect the owner against jealousy and all evils in general.

Turkish eyes are everywhere!

Leunig-esque

Leunig must have visited here...or maybe Vasco Pyjama!

Morning walk scene

House wall

The eyes are watching you.

Spices at the market!

By the time we had finished school for the morning, the clouds were gathering and the weather was cooler and rain threatening.  We headed out and discovered the market with spices and citrus fruit and cakes!

Farmers' market

Turkeys in Turkey

 Then on to the highlight of the day: The Mausoleum at Halikarnassus. This is listed as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and in fact the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne was modeled on its design.  Artemesia who was both Mausolus's wife and sister, had this mausoleum built for him when he died.  She was so grief struck that she drank his ashes and commissioned Greek artists to build the tomb.  The word mausoleum comes from his name.

The mausoleum toppled in 13th Century due to earthquakes and bits of it were used to build the Bodrum Castle.

LOVE walking on history!

Chatting on a piece of marble from 2500 years ago!

Random columns...

What a privilege to walk through this!

Luke was very keen to buy fish from the fishermen again by the marina.  I think we bought mackerel today which Luke inspected and dissected (a bit) before eating!  The little bones were the problem.

So excited about buying the fish!

Anatomy lesson on fish by Luke!

I was just sitting down with Luke for some late afternoon schoolwork when I noticed him scratching his head...OH NO Head Lice!!  We are still completely puzzled as to where and from whom the little beasties came.  So, we gave Luke a buzz haircut and Annika and I braved the fierce thunderstorm to walk to the pharmacy to buy Head Lice treatment.  After a bit of charades and 100 Lira later, we walked back in the dark and drenching rain.  The sky was an amazing colour in the storm. We were really cold.  The urgency of treating the lice meant that dinner was really late.  The last thing I wanted to be doing was head lice treatment.  Luke was quite practical about the whole deal as he had done an assignment on head lice last year and was fascinated by them.  So, this first infestation was really quite fun as far as he was concerned.  Not me, though.  Of course, it is common to feel itchy around lice so Annika and I also treated our hair and then I gave Tim a haircut and treated him, too.  Karl was completely nonplussed and indicated that we were making a fuss about nothing and I really don't think he believed us at all.  As for me, I am TIRED.  The usual frenzy of washing linen etc isn't an option when there is no spare linen so I do hope the lice information people have it right when they say all the washing is unnecessary!!

Bakery treats for today!