Day 4 - Pamukkale

 

We arrived at our destination which was actually North of Denezli called Pamukkale.  The ride was SO much cooler today due to the higher elevations. We descended into the valley and found the Hotel Hal-Tur which is run by Tufun (who claims to be way too much fun). The entire town is built around Hierapolis, a pre-Roman city at its heyday around the 2nd century and built to take advantage of the hot springs.  The hot springs turned out to be as interesting as the city, but more on that later. 

Too Fun's place.

Our view from Too Fun's place.  The hot springs...

These are different views of the City of Hierapolis.  The place was enormous and covered at least a square mile.  You could walk anywhere or climb on anything that wasn't about to fall over on you - making the exploration fascinating.  The site is so big you essentially have the place to yourself - and we walked everywhere.

Note the UFO patterns cut into the rock.







Oh crap.  Dammit Jon!

The Theatre of Hierapolis was incredible. This was for thespians to perform for the nobles - they even had the piping and sealed lower sections so that they could fill and empty the bottom with water for aquatic shows.  This was the precursor for "O".

These are the "Hot Springs" - however this particular one leaches calcium carbonate from a deep repository and deposits all over the landscape forming travertine terraces.  The thing is ginormous and the best part is the hot water that pours down the slightly sloping surfaces is amazing to walk on barefoot.  It took us 45 minutes to walk down the hillside which extended at least a quarter of a mile.