The MOJO Family: Pamukkale, Turkey

It took me a while to learn how to spell and how to pronounce Pamukkale, but I'm really glad we made the effort to go here.

Our family got the train from Selcuk to Denizli, and then a taxi to the town of Pamukkale. We arrived in the late afternoon and then went walking up into the 'cotton castle' to see the travertine pools. It's a really bizarre place - white rock formed by the thermal waters cascades down the cliffs above the little town. It was a cloudy day and there was fresh snow visible in the distant mountain tops.

We walked from our hotel (The Cotton House - we'd recommend it as the owners were lovely, the breakfast was filling and tasty, and the wifi actually works well) to the entrance gate. I think there are three entrances to the travertines area, but we just went in the one closest to town.

You must take your shoes off at the bottom / start of the white rock and then carry your shoes with you as you ascend. Some of the rock is smooth and some of it is bumpy and less comfortable under your feet, but all of it is grippy. Non of it is slippery at the bottom, but as you go higher, things become wetter, and some of the top area has a slippery wet clay or algae so falling is a real possibility. We enjoyed moving our bodies after being on the train for a few hours, and we were intrigued by this bizarre and beautiful new landscape.

As we got closer to the top, we appreciated that we were there near sunset and many of the tour buses were leaving for the day. We didn't have to share the sight with too many others, which was one huge bonus to staying in the town. The colours under the cloud weren't quite what I expected - not quite the bright blue shimmering water over the white rock I had seen in photos. Still it was fun to explore and beautiful.

These terraces didn't have water in them on the first evening

The next day, Jason stayed behind to work while the girls and I went back to explore the area again. The sky was clearing as we hiked up and I realized why I hadn't seen the blue colours I'd expected the day before. It wasn't as much to do with the colour of the sky as where the water was going. The evening before, the hot water wasn't going into the terraced pools but instead coming down the ditch that we were climbing up. This day, the hot water was being diverted into the terraced pools so they were filled with blue water against the white rock.

The same terraces as the day before, but now the water
diverted to fill them up and make them appear blue

I think in the past, different visitors have been allowed to bathe in the hot terraced pools, but now the only pools you can access are the man made ones you climb up with cooler water. It's still amazing and I couldn't stop taking photos. Having the hot steaming water flow over my feet while I watched it stream down through the beautiful pools was awesome.

Water diversion system

At the top of the pools is the ancient city / ruins of Heirapolis. Although we've seen quite a few ancient cities and ruins, the theatre was well worth a walk up. The marble facade at the front of the theatre rivals any other facade we've seen so far on this trip.

Someone is still very happy about all the stray cats

We also enjoyed seeing the statue of Hades /Pluto with the three headed Cerberus and two serpents guarding the gates of death. The cave below this statue used to emit posionous fumes from the thermal cave.

Then we went swimming in the ancient pools of Cleopatra. Apparently she bathed here once. The site is a total tourist trap set up, and you have to pay a bit extra to swim here, but the water is delightfully warm. Old ruins of marble stone, pedestals and columns are in the water beneath you, so it's a bit like swimming around in an enormous hot tub with ancient Roman ruins below you. We really liked it. We also took advantage of the tourist food and ate a hamburger, chicken nuggets and ice cream before we climbed down into town.