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Published: June 23rd 2010
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Look at any glossy tourist brochure on Turkey and chances are you’ll see photos of the Roman ruins at Ephesus and the hot springs at Pamukkale. I wasn’t really looking forward to either but they were more or less on the way the Istanbul so I decided to stop off. I’d heard the ruins were so packed you could barely move and that the springs had been more or less depleted thanks to over exploitation in the 90s.
I took a bus from Fethiye and arrived in Pamukkale with pretty low expectations. The city contains hot springs and terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. Up until recently there were hotels right next to the springs draining the water and a road was even built over the terraces. Fortunately when the area was declared a world heritage site, the hotels were demolished and the road was removed.
You can’t swim in the natural travetines anymore but there’s a series of artificial pools where the road once stood. They're not quite the same but it’s still pretty cool. The calcium rich water is supposed to have a range of healing abilities and people have bathed here for thousands
of years (the Roman’s even built a city around the terraces). I of course tested out the water’s healing effect on my ever increasing number of permanent scars. As of yet no effect but I was really impressed with the springs.
From Pamukkale I took a bus in the morning to Selcuk which the town nearest to the ruins at Ephesus. There wasn’t really any need to stay the night so I booked a night bus to Istanbul, left my bags at the bus station and headed off to the ruins. They’re located about 3km from the city but it’s a really nice tree-shaded walk through the countryside. On the way you pass the ruins of the Temple of Artemis which was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Almost nothing remains but the one column gives you an idea of how impressive the temple once was.
By the time I reached Ephesus the only thing that was keeping me going was the knowledge that these would be the last Roman ruins of the trip. Visiting was a bit of a list ticking exercise! Again though as with Pamukkale, I was pleasantly surprised. It was obviously
busier than the ruins in Syria or Lebanon but it was nowhere near as bad as I’d expected. I arrived in the heat of the afternoon so most people had been and gone.
There’s a reason this place gets so much visitors. As jaded as I’ve become in regards to ancient ruins this place really impressed me. It’s not on quite the same scale as Palmyra but some of the buildings, particularly the library of Celsus are in superb condition. Also the setting, in the middle of rolling countryside, is much more pleasant that the baking heat of the Syrian desert
So I’m very glad I didn’t miss out on these places and I guess it shows don’t listen to everything other travellers say!
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