Pamukkale

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The next place was the Pamukkale or cotton castle this area consists of limestone terraces and pools. These are created via thermal activity heating the water and hot water dissolving some of the limestone. Over the century’s the water flow has reduced so some of the white cliffs were turning from a white to a brown while this is a natural process it does ruin the look of the terraces so now the remaining water flow is managed and directing to different places as required.

This has resulted in the terraces now all turning white again but unlike in the “tourist photos” there are now not as many full pools at the same level. You can only access a small part of the limestone terrace now. It is limited to only a single cascade of pools but it still consists has over 12 pools in series. The pools were most interesting, the water was warm and after a while you got use to the rocks on the bottom. I just paddled my feet in shorts like most people, but there were a few people in swim suits, as expected the girls in bikinis were hassled by Turkish photographs offering to take their photos.

Due to the present of thermal waters a rich roman spa town Hierapolis was built on the hill above the travertine pools. The remains of town is another interesting collection of ruins including a complete preserved amphitheatre. The hotel we were staying at had a thermal spa the water was very “hard” but it appeared to help by sore muscles. You could tell how “hard” the water was because in the morning my glasses had little white powder circles on them from water spots that had dried.

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