7: Dazzling White's and Brilliant Blue's

Early start this morning as we had a full morning’s driving on the bus to get to our next stop of Pamukkale, home to the white calcium terraces. Our bus trip was again very uneventful with us passing through a landscape of shrubbed but rocky mountains and arid flat shrubby/ rocky plains. Rock is definitely what Turkey is made out of!!! We arrived at Pamukkale just after lunch (about 1.30) and had a quick bite to eat (mushroom and meatball casserole) before we headed out to see the gorgeous white terraces.

The white terraces are world renowned and are deserved for their renown. Our hotel was about a twenty minute walk to the base of the terraces and as soon as we saw them we were just stuck by the beauty. If it wasn’t for the warmth you would swear that you are looking at a ski slope! The terraces are brilliantly white.. dazzling.. nothing like I’ve ever seen before. The cliffs have formed over hundreds of years (probably thousands) and are formed when the local thermal waters cascade over the side of a mountain. As the water evaporates the calcium is deposited onto the cliffs creating this natural wonder. You are fortunate because you can walk up and through the terraces so you can have a good look and feel of the cliffs. We arrived at the base of the park, removed our shoes (no shoes allowed on the terraces as they damage the cliff faces) and started the forty minute trek to the top of the cliffs. The calcium deposits are surprisingly rough which is good because water is constantly running down the hillside!

Unfortunately for us it hasn’t rained for a while so most of the calcium pools were completely dry. The spring water is now being managed so that some water flows on to most of the cliff at some part of the day. This means that many of the otherwise incredibly beautiful pools are just dried out creek beds! Regardless, the view from the top is pretty amazing!!! The spring water is aquamarine.. couple this with dazzling white… you can imagine the colours that hit your eye!!!!!

Right above the calcium cliffs is another ruined city this one called Hierapolis. We spent probably an hour clambering around this ruin. My main interest was the Necropolis (the cemetery) and so I spent most of my time in this area. To be frank, if no-one told you it was a cemetery you wouldn’t know.. more huge stone blocks just strewn about.. not that different to the city itself!! The other interesting part to the city is the Agora. The Agora was once a public meeting place. It must have been a pretty large building in its time because its ruin complex is probably 100m long! It is probably one of the better preserved parts of the city and really gives you a feel for the size and shape of the city. Above the Agora is the old amphitheatre, this one is slightly better preserved than the one at Ephesus but once you’ve seen one amphitheatre well……

The park is also home to a museum (we didn’t get time to see inside) and a thermal hot spring bathing area (again I did a pass as I wanted to take more photos of the cliffs as the sun was setting). Spent the reminder of my time shooting photos of the cliffs. As the sun was setting the cliffs turned a pale pinky/ orange… absolutely incredible. As it slowly turned dark we started back down the cliffs and managed to shoot more photos as the lights lit up the cliffs.. Honestly, Pamukkale must be one of the most photogenic places in the world! Photographic friends take note!!!!