Day
6 – Tuesday, August 30, 2011 – Pamukkale (and Happy Birthday Abram!)
August
30 is Turkish Victory Day, commemorating the Turkish victory in the final
battle of the Turkish War of Independence in 1922. All of the country there
were ceremonies commemorating the day, and we were lucky enough to stumble upon
one as we walked to the bus station in Selcuk. There were a few speeches that
we didn't understand, then a Turkish cultural dance show, which was really fun
to watch. We had to cut our viewing short to get on the bus that would take us
to our next destination – Pamukkale. The bus ride was very pleasant. It was
about 3 hours long, and they served us beverages three different times along
the way. The first and third time they gave us water, and the second time they
gave us some sort of orange soda, which was surprisingly tasty.
Upon
arrival in Pamukkale the bus company offered to let us keep our bags in their
office, which turned out to be perfect. After leaving our stuff and having a
quick lunch in the restaurant next door we walked up the hill to the entrance
to the park. Pamukkale, which means "cotton castle" in Turkish, looks
like exactly that. The city consists of hot springs and travertines and
terraces of carbonate minerals that have been formed by the flowing water. We
walked up to the entrance of the World Heritage Site, and removed our shoes for
the walk up the hill. The entire hillside is covered with calcite pools, and as
we walked up the views kept getting better and better. It was really neat to
put our feel and legs in the pools and walk up the rock with water spilling
down over our feet. Since we weren't in bathing suites yet we really didn't get
to swim in the pools, but we did take our time walking up the hill to take some
fantastic photographs. When we got to the top we walked around to see other
pools that are no longer open for walking, then headed over to the ruins of
Hierapolus, the ancient Greco-Roman city located atop the hot springs. Abram
wasn't feeling to well so he and Leah stayed in the shade, and the rest of us
walked up to the top of the ancient theater. We had an incredible view of all
of Pamukkale and the surrounding regions. After spending some time in the ruins
seeing the Temple of Apollo, the Plutonium, Nymphaeum, and Necropolis, we
walked to the Antique Pool, where you can swim in the mineral water. We took
advantage of this respite from the mid-day heat and quickly changed into
bathing suites and got into the water. The pool was incredible, with old
columns and ruins at the bottom to swim around and climb on. The water itself
was fantastic. Warm like bath water, the mineral water was so full of bubbles
that it felt like swimming in soda water.
After a small snack we split up and found spots to watch the sunset over
the calcite pools. Jeremy and I walked around a little to see the sunset from
different angles, then ended at the end of a long walkway watching the sun go
down over the horizon and send its beautiful colors into the water of the
pools. After walking down through the pools once again we had a quick dinner
overlooking Pamukkale, then got on an overnight bus that would take us to our
next stop – Cappadocia.
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