By the time he was appointed museum director Oguz Alpozen had already been associated with the museum in one capacity or another since 1962 when,as a student,he participated in the underwater excavations under the leadership of George Bass.In later years, until 1971,he took part in these excavations both as a qualified diver and as a commissioner representing the Turkish Ministry of Culture,so when he assumed the directorship of the museum he was already a champion of underwater archeology.Realizing that this new field of science was of immense value in uncovering the mysteries of the past,and determined to keep the results of the excavations in Bodrum, Alpozen prevailed upon the authorities to re-designate the museum as the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archeology. With this stress on the nautical archeology role in mind Alpozen then proceeded to complete the restoration and beautification work started by Haluk Elbe making additional venues available for the exposition of artifacts recovered from the sea.This emphasis also allowed the museum to cooperate more closely with the Institute of Nautical Archeology (INA) which enabled them to continue making trail-blazing underwater excavations which drew world-wide attention to Bodrum. Finds, such as the "Oldest Known Shipwreck", became known not only in specialist circles but also among the wider public due to reports in the prestigious National Geographic magazine making the Bodrum museum a prime attraction for visitors from all over the world..... A bit difficult to illustrate this part of the story, so the above images are of Bodrums lesser known landmark.To get your bearings,(you really need to zoom this), the left image, looking from the Castle ramparts over Bodrum Mariner.Just left of center there is a small tower with a big flagpole, about half way up the flagpole on the hillside beyond is the Roman Amphitheatre, seen in the right image.(so much culture, and they haven't finished, drive half a mile off to the right of these pictures and they've just opened a 'drive-thru McDonalds).This sits on the main dual carriageway that links much of the Southwest corner of Turkey.We've now been to Gumbet 5 or 6 times and never visited the Amphitheatre,(or McDonalds) maybe next year... Well that's enough 'dusty old history'....tomorrow we get to some of the 'good stuff'...Turkish re-cycling....may sound dull, but trust me :-)