Pamukkale to Oludeniz

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16 April

It was an early start to get to Pamukkale which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site definitely worth a visit. Meaning 'cotton castle', Pamukkale is a series of travertines; terraces of carbonate minerals left by flowing hot spring water. The water varies in colour and temperatures, some warm enough to swim in.

But I'm ahead of myself. We parked the truck and walked to the entrance where we paid 25TL (it seems we've arrived at the start of the high season as all the tickets have gone up 5TL; we've been peeling the stickers off to see) and walked through the turnstiles. A short walk towards the white landscape and we removed our shoes, put them in bags and stepped over the divide and onto what could be described as a waterfall. Over beautifully sculpted rocks, warm water cascaded down and over our feet. It wasn't slippery and we revelled in the experience whilst walking up to the first pool.
Rolling my pants up, I stepped into the water and walked towards the middle where it was knee deep. The clay-like substance on the bottom oozed between my toes as I moved about, taking photos.
Although water only trickled down the majority of the rocks, water gushed along a channel off on the edge. Alex, Quinn and Talbot all climbed in, pretending to swim against the current and have a grand old time while people took photos and laughed along.
All the way up to the top, the guys messed about in the warmer pools, decorating Alex's bald head with the clay mix. A small waterfall in the top pool allowed them to rinse off but we all had powder-ish marks where we'd been in the water.

A walk along the boardwalk at the top proved fruitless for Steph and i who had hoped for a view looking down on the pools. I spotted an amphitheatre out the back and other ruins but hurried back to the group for the walk back down. If you do go, park at the bottom and walk up. It's a much more dramatic entrance and the parking is free at the bottom!

Back on the truck with ice creams and other snacks, it was to be a long-ish drive to Ölüdeniz on the Aegean coast where we'd spend three nights. Our campsite, Sun City, was still renovating and building for the coming season, much like the town was.

With a wood fire under way, we set up tents and I went to see if their guard dog was any friendlier than the last. He was. A big softy, Carlos is a German wolf. I've never heard of the breed but he was beautiful. Sadly, although they look after him and feed him, I think he got more attention from us in those few days than he'd had in a while.

Scott and I walked through the campsite, past the newly built and as yet unopened bar to the water's edge. Sand had recently been trucked in and the inlet was calm, the only ripples coming from small fish and a lone crab. A paddle boat moved about lazily in the centre of the water, their voices drifting across to us.
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17th April

Today is Nicola's birthday, the first of only two birthdays on the trip. Everyone except me headed off for a boat cruise out to islands where you could swim and explore. I spent the day washing clothes, playing with Carlos, braving the freezing cold shower (it was described as 'glacial' by one of the others but I think it's even worse than that!) and then walked into town before coming back to do a whole lot of nothing.

After dinner I asked Nic to accompany me to the bandstand down by the water's edge in an effort to allow Nat and Suse to finish icing a cake they'd made for her. Eventually we were all down there, sang happy birthday, ate cake and had a few drinks. It should've stopped there but that wouldn't be so much fun. A deck of cards appeared and the first of too many drinking games began...

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18th April

Having played Scrabble the other night, it seems that three of us attempted a game last night but instead fell asleep. So it was a bit of a sleepover party and having had my sleeping mat and bag brought to me, my tent was more or less empty. Then a storm hit. A huge, wonderful, oh my God storm and I was snuggled in my sleeping bag all warm and cosy. In the morning, I woke up to prepare breakfast and remembered thinking there was a bigger gap in the campsite than I thought there should be. But it wasn't until I got to the truck and turned around that I saw my tent had blown away and was over near the bathrooms. In my tired state, I found this somewhat hilarious. But there was much damage control to be done after breakfast. The few articles of clothing that were in my tent were soaked and dirty so the guys hung my tent up on the clothes line and I washed my clothes. Once everything was dry, I put my tent up and this time, pegged it down just in case. Sorted.

After breakfast once most people had recovered (the birthday girl was not one of the recovered), three went for a seven hour round trip to 2000m and another three of us waited until the afternoon then went for a walk to see if we could reach the spit of land opposite our campsite. The trail took us through overgrown vegetation to a beautiful lookout over the Aegean Sea on the other side of the spit and then ended so we decided to make our own way through. The guys climbed a tree with my camera to get photos of the inlet and the bay while I picked sharp needles out of my flip flops. Yes, we went hiking in flip flops. And shorts.

When we decided to head back, rather than backtrack, we thought we'd aim straight up and hopefully hit the path. Of course, we should've realised this would never work. Eventually we did find the path (recognisable by rock cairns dotted every few metres) but we were scratched to ribbons, tired and getting cold. It definitely felt good to get out for a walk though.
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19th April

It was an early start to the day and although I thought I'd sleep well last night, I didn't. Breakfast was at 6:30 meaning tents had to be down before then. I didn't eat much, picking at the apple and orange slices but chose to go down to the water's edge with a cup of tea and then say goodbye to Carlos the dog. I'd bought him treats which he at first sniffed warily but by the fourth and last one, he'd wag his tail at my approach and sit up, ready to shake my hand. He sniff at the rest of the gang who came over to say hi, expecting more but to no avail. I was sad saying goodbye and hoped that now we were out of the way, they'd let him off his chain and give him a chance to run.

I took my sleeping bag up onto the truck, put my headphones in and tuned out, dozing to The Moth podcast. I woke when we stopped for a toilet break and then again when we reached the Saklikent gorge. We knew weren't going to get to do all of it but I don't think any of us realised until we saw the billboard at the entrance that there were river crossings involved. Not sure what to expect, we paid our 5TL entrance and walked single file along a boardwalk with the fast flowing water gushing underneath us.
Stepping off, we found ourselves on an island of sorts with picnic tables and realised that was it. Although the gorge is 18km long, we were surrounded by water not yet reached by summer sun - if it is even reached then. Scott and Talbot were soon at the water's edge discussing ways to get across while the rest of us took photos and sure enough, off they went.

Scott went first, leaving his boots on, and walked into the water. It soon reached above his knees as he fought the waterfall to get across to the other side. Talbot assessed where he crossed and, after handing over his camera equipment, took off his flip flops and crossed at a different point where the water was only knee high.

I found myself actually wanting to go with them to see what was around the corner so when Alex said he was going, I also took off my boots. The cold air on my toes was enough to make me wonder what on earth I was doing and I continued to wonder as I handed over my big camera, tied my little camera to the key around my neck and pulled my paper thin pants up above my knees.

The water was ridiculously cold. But I was already stepping gingerly over rocks and then found myself more than knee deep in the middle of the river, crossing the current whilst holding onto Alex as my feet felt their way across the mostly smooth pebbles. Once across, we turned and waved then set off around the corner and out of sight. Scott moved easily in his boots but we other three picked our way across the rocks and soon found ourselves back in the water, crossing back to the other side. We continued to zigzag our way through the gorge, its cliffs towering over us. Apart from the occasional bird, the water was the only sound. In places, soft mud replaced the stones which our now freezing cold feet welcomed.

To be honest, I was expecting something spectacular. It was beautiful scenery and it was fun to be off exploring but from toes to mid calf, I was bright red from cold and the soles of my feet didn't appreciate having to clamber over pebbles. In the end, Talbot and I did about 600m we think and the others went a few hundred metres more. I was conscious of the time and didn't know how long it would take to get back and besides, there was always going to be 'just one more corner'. We were well and truly freezing when we got back to the group and hurried off to change into dry bottoms. I got into my sleeping bag and was warm again in no time as we drove through beautiful scenery on our way to Mt. Olympus.

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Photos

Pamukkale
With shoes removed, we stepped onto the travertines and flowing water