It's all sun and games in Bodrum

Bodrum has experienced invasions as far back as Alexander the Great. But it now deals with invasions of a very different kind as tourists flood in by the plane-load to scuba dive for treasures in the crystal blue Aegean, sweat away the stress in traditional Turkish bathhouses, dance the night away in open-air nightclubs and haggle at markets for the latest knock-off designer gear.

Once the ancient city of Halicanassus, Bodrum is home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world - the enormous Mausoleum of Halicanassus.

Dominating the Bodrum skyline is the formidable Castle of St Peter built by the Knights of St John in 1402 and is a mishmash of English, German, French and Spanish architecture. In the 16th century, Bodrum fell under Ottoman rule and the castle was left to ruin. In the 1960s it was used to store artifacts found by divers and was eventually restored as Bodrum's Museum of Underwater Archeology.