Pamukkale: Walk of a Lifetime

Turkey:  A 2000-Mile Road Trip, Part 5

Pamukkale:  Walk of a Lifetime

 

I did not set my expectations too high from the place we were about to visit; described in our itinerary as “Necropolis and the ancient city of Hierapolis (Holy City) atop the Pamukkale hot springs, which together constitute a World Heritage Site,” I imagined that we would see more ruins. I admit I yawned at the presence of the gods, rather the remnants of the statues of gods and goddesses in the ruins we visited earlier on this road trip. Not that I was not that interested in great art and culture, but I found as much culture in Instagramming a photo of a landscape, and more into adventure travel. So imagine my delight when our guide suddenly announced that we should be able to bathe in the ancient Roman pools, walk for an hour and hike uphill.

I never heard of Pamukkale before. Situated at the crossroads of ancient history and commerce, and archeological diversity of Hierapolis (religious buildings and temples, baths, fountain, agora, gates, theater and necropolis), Pamukkale is amazing natural phenomenon. From a distance, we saw what appeared to be a snow-covered hill. Approaching the site, it became apparent that the whitish substance was not snow, but mineral deposits (calcium carbonate) that gave the white color formations. Pamukkale literally translates to "Cotton Castle."
North Side

We first visited the gates (featuring the Gates of Hell), temples, and colonnaded streets of Hierapolis at the top of the hill. However, nothing prepared me for the visually spectacular view downward from the top: water cascading over a white travertine surface, forming layers of pools and terraces. The view was out of this world!
South Side
Like everyone else, I took my shoes off to walk on the white surface (it is only allowed to walk on the south part barefoot to prevent damage on the travertine). I slowly waded through the warm cascading waters, careful with my steps on the slippery surface before reaching the first pool, then on to the next pool to dip my legs in the pool. I then went by the walls to touch and feel the cascading waterfalls (the water is not visible over the white background). I walked/waded all the way down and went back up. The almost blinding natural beauty filled me with such a feeling of being alive that, in that moment, I told myself, “This maybe a short walk, but it's a walk of a lifetime awright!"



After walking 'The Cotton Castle," I went to check out the ancient Roman baths. Someone in our group hyped the place up by saying that the Roman spa was the most popular activity for tourists, and told me to expect more than a hundred people bathing in a small pool. As it turned out, the pools were spread out and I found less than five people sharing the bigger pool.
Roman Bath                                                             Roman Theater

And the hike uphill that our guide mentioned earlier turned out to be a hike to see the Roman Theater, which was on the upper hill.

Back at the meeting point, I was surprised to see almost everyone in our group gathered to do the one-hour walk that our guide mentioned earlier. It would take an hour if you walked the main street, which was about a mile from the north to the south gate. Passing the Necropolis, we all walked to the North gate where we found our bus and driver waiting.


PHOTO GALLERY
The Cotton Castle





Hierapolis

Hierapolis (Religious buildings, Temples, Agora, Gates &Theater)

The Necropolis




NOTE:
All photos by the author
For detailed information about Pamukkale, visit the UNESCO WHC @: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/485

Comments

Post a Comment

NEW POSTS

NEPAL: Durbar Square Before the Earthquake

Image
I was writing my blog about Nepal’s UNESCO World Heritage and historic sites very late last night (05-12-15 in Nepal) when I happened to check my Instagram and saw a posting about Kathmandu after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal yet again. I get emotional just by looking at the photos and videos I took from my recent trip to Nepal let alone a video of a chaotic Kathmandu. I must confess to telling a co-traveler on our way to Patan's Durbar Square that I was ‘templed out’ (the term I used to describe how I felt after visiting so many temples).  Who would have thought that the visit to that last Durbar Square and seeing all the temples that day was a great blessing.  I have said many prayers of gratitude for the opportunity to see and capture in films and photos Nepal’s UNESCO World Heritage sites and the irreplaceable temples and statues before the April 25, 2015 earthquake. The Kathmandu Valley is comprised of three cities: Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan. Each city features
Read more

The Banaue Rice Terraces: A Living Cultural Landscape

Image
My interest in exploring the northern part of the Philippines started from looking at a piece of art at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California.   Among the display of ceramics and pottery engraved with gold and other decorative stuff,  a wooden carving of a male figure squatting on a platform with the lower arms on top of each other, resting upon his knees, caught my eye.  According to the docent, the wooden sculpture was called "Bului" which literally means "granary guardian" in the "Ifugao" tribe dialect. The carved wooden sculpture was set on a platform on top of another platform, a mortar.   Our docent explained the significance of the wooden mortar (which was used with the pestle, to separate the husk from the rice, sort of rice mill) and linked the story to the Rice Terraces in the Cordillera Mountains of the Philippines built 2000 years ago by the “Ifugao” tribe. So two years and three hundred kilometers north of Manila later, we explo
Read more

Poland: The Wieliczka Salt Mine

Image
One of the most spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Sites I visited this year was the Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow, Poland. It was founded in the 13th century to mine the rich deposit of salt. Salt mining stopped in 1996 when the low price of salt on the world market made it too expensive to mine and the mine was slowly flooding. But miners did more than just extract salt. They left behind them a breathtaking record of their time underground in the shape of statues of mythical, historical and religious figures.  Part of the salt mine became an art gallery, chapels, cathedral, and underground lakes. Today, Wieliczka Salt Mine is one of the most visited National Monuments in Poland. For safety reason, less than one percent of the mine is open to visitors, but even that is almost four kilometers in length. There are 20 chambers to visit and 800 steps to climb of which 350 at the beginning take you down into the mine. You can’t just visit and wander around on your own. All of the visits
Read more