In the eyes of its devotees, BODRUM (www.bodrum-info.org) – ancient Halicarnassos – with its whitewashed houses and subtropical gardens, is the most attractive Turkish resort, a quality outfit in comparison to its upstart Aegean rivals. And it is a pleasant town in most senses, despite having no real beach, although development has proceeded apace over the last couple of decades, spreading beyond the town boundaries into the until recently little-disturbed peninsula. The centrepiece of Bodrum is the Castle of St Peter (daily 8.30am-6pm; $5), built by the Knights of St John over a Selçuk fortress between 1437 and 1522. The castle was subsequently neglected until the nineteenth century, when the chapel was converted to a mosque and had a hamam installed, though the place was not properly refurbished until the 1960s, when it was turned into a museum. Inside, there are bits of ancient masonry incorporated into the walls, coats of arms, and a chapel housing a local Bronze Age and Mycenean collection. The various towers house a Museum of Underwater Archeology which includes coin and jewellery rooms, classical and Hellenistic statuary and Byzantine relics retrieved from two wrecks, alongside a diorama explaining salvage techniques. The Carian princess hall (daily 10am-noon & 2-4pm; $2 extra) displays the skeleton and sarcophagus of a fourth-century BC Carian noblewoman unearthed in 1989. There is also the Glass Wreck Hall (daily 10-11am & 2-4pm; $2 extra) containing the wreck and cargo of an ancient Byzantine ship, which sank at Serce near Marmaris.