The submerged road to Rabbit Island
Some 150 metres of ancient paving under shallow water, crossed on foot to the island that was once part of the city.
Koray — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Efsail İnan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · cenk .alper — CC BY 3.0 · No machine-readable author provided. Patrickneil assumed (based on copyright claims). — CC BY-SA 3.0
The ancient road here is not one you walk on but one you wade through: roughly 150 metres of old paving under knee-deep water, leading from the beach at Gümüşlük to Rabbit Island (Tavşan Adası), which was once part of the city of Myndos. That is the photograph everyone takes, and it is also the one thing that sets this site apart from the hundreds of scattered ruins along the Turkish coast. Myndos was a Carian harbour city refounded by the Carian ruler Mausolus in the 4th century BC; its walls held off a surprise attack by Alexander the Great while he was besieging Halicarnassus (today's Bodrum), and later an unrecorded earthquake swallowed its seafront, leaving a good part of the city underwater. Do not expect an archaeological site in the usual sense: no gate, no tickets, no museum and next to no signage. The fishing village sits directly on top of the ancient one, and the legal protection that stopped building on the hills is largely why Gümüşlük still has no big hotels. What you will see: stretches of city wall and towers on the surrounding slopes, the foundations of a Byzantine church, tombs, and paving that glints under the shallow water of the bay. On the island, excavations by Uludağ University, begun in 2004, have uncovered a church and walls. All of it asks more of your imagination than of your time. Getting there from Bodrum is easy: about 24 km west, 35 to 40 minutes by car or by dolmuş from the Bodrum bus station. The village waterfront is effectively pedestrian, so leave the car in the car parks at the entrance. Bring water shoes, since the stones are slippery and there are sea urchins, and know that the crossing to the island can be closed when the excavation team is at work or the sea is rough. For children, wading across is a genuine adventure; pushchairs stay on the beach. The honest truth: most people who come to Gümüşlük do not come for the ruins but for the fish restaurants at the water's edge and a sunset that ranks among the finest on the peninsula. Give the ruins an hour before late afternoon, then take a table with its feet in the sea. In August the heat on the hills is punishing and there is barely any shade, so arrive in the village after four. In winter everything goes quiet and most restaurants close, but the bay stays open for anyone who wants the stones to themselves.
Some 150 metres of ancient paving under shallow water, crossed on foot to the island that was once part of the city.
The stretches of wall and towers on the hills belong to the 4th-century BC defences that repelled Alexander the Great's surprise attack during the siege of Halicarnassus.
The waterside fish restaurants and the sunset are why most visitors really come, so make them the finale.
Gümüşlük village, western tip of the Bodrum peninsula, Muğla
If you want a complete archaeological site, Bodrum Castle and its museum matter far more. Go to Gümüşlük for the village, the wade across to the island and the sunset, and treat the ruins as a pleasant one-hour extra, not the point of the day.
The water is normally knee-deep, but the stones are slippery and there are sea urchins; it suits school-age children in water shoes with an adult, and does not suit pushchairs or anyone unsteady on their feet.
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