Monday, March 31st, 2014, Pamukkale
At Mustafa's Pension, for $35 CDN per night, breakfast is not included. Apparently there's no maid service either. However, it's clean, warm and this morning Mustafa made us a great Turkish breakfast in the restaurant for 7.5 lira ($3.75) each including really good yogurt and honey. Mustafa and the hillbillies are cooking in the wood fired brick oven all day and the food is great. However, tonight we went to Kaya's, recommended in Lonely Planet, just for a change and it was good too. Once again, dinner for 2, including beer and tip, for 45 lira ($22.50).
After breakfast, we walked up to the travertines and the ancient city of Hierapolis above them. There are 17 mineral springs coming out of the hill with a constant water temperature of 36C. The calcium carbonate from the water is deposited on the hillside and naturally forms terraced pools, called the travertines, and coats the whole hillside in white.
Above the pools is the ancient city of Hierapolis, founded by the Romans in 197 BC. It's been a spa town for a long time. We wandered all over the city and the travertines for the day.
The old Roman theatre seats 12,000 people. Construction was started in 60 AD and it took 146 years to complete it.
Restoration started in 1957 and continues.
On a hill above the city is the burial site of St. Philip, one of the Apostles. He was apparently murdered and buried here. Thousands of Christians make pilgrimages here every year.
Frontinus Street, the main drag, of Hierapolis. There used to be shops on either side.
There were even public latrines.
Nice site for a city, overlooking the broad valley and the snow-capped mountains in the distance. After the Romans, the Byzantines lived here and finally, through conflict with the Moslems and because of a series of earthquakes, the population gradually dwindled. However, descendants of the ancient peoples still live in the area.
The area of travertines is huge and blindingly white in the mid-day sun.
Lounging by some of the pools.
The day got quite warm so on the way back down through the travertines, we stopped to soak our feet in the warm mineral water. It felt great but eventually we decided to get out of the sun. It's really bright out there.
No-one is allowed to wear shoes on the travertines since they're fragile and could be easily damaged. Even when wet, the calcium carbonate surface isn't that slippery. It took about 40 minutes of walking to get down through the travertines and back to the village. Our hotel is only about 50 metres from the bottom of the hill. It was a great day.
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