Pamukkale

Let's practice saying this together because we still can't get it right.

Pah-MOO-Kah-lay

However you say it, it's beautiful.

I know you're just here for the pictures, but for those of you that are actually going to go here, here's some tips. Then the pic explosion.

1. Take the minibus from Denizli Otogar. The train station is right near there too. We chose a hotel next to the bus station so we could walk from the train and bus station. It was perfect. The minibuses leave from the bottom level, Peron 76 (Gate 76). The buses are comfy, seat about 15, and take about 20 minutes to get to Pamukkale.

2. You'll see the white hill as you're getting close, but it will disappear as the minibus cuts into the town to the bus station. Keep your bearings straight so you know which way to head when you get out.

3. The bus will drop you off in the middle of nowhere. Take note of buildings or street signs, because that's where it will pick you back up. Walk towards where you think the white hills are.

4. Eventually you'll see them. Walk toward them.

5. You'll run into the Natural Pools of Pamukkale. That's not where you're going, but you want to walk through them to the right. -->

6. You buy your ticket at the base of the hill and start walking up the gravel path.

7. About 2 minutes up the path, you reach the white part of the mountain. You have to take your shoes off. The pools are only a few inches to about a foot deep. So you can wade anywhere you want. (Well, anywhere that's not off limits. They keep you on a pretty straight line.)

8. The tour buses let out at the top, so the top pools are much busier (and not as pretty) as the pools in the middle.

9. There are no facilities along the hill. Once you get to the top (Hierapolis), walk along the main road past the museum to the big building in front of you. That's Cleopatra's Pool, and changing rooms, bathrooms, lockers, restaurants, and anything else you need is there.

10. Your ticket includes the travertines (the infinity pools) and access to all of Hierapolis. Swimming in Cleopatra's Pool is not included (30 TL per person), and honestly, doesn't look worth it. We passed. The museum is only 5 TL and that was ok. These are from the museum, which used to be a Roman Bath.

11. Stay for sunset. It's AH. MAZE. ING.

12. We caught a minibus after dark. Not sure when the last one is. You'll be fine.

Ok, now for the pictures. With some commentary. :)

In Turkish, Pamukkale literally means "Cotton Castle." Fun, huh?

We were fascinated that such a place even exists. So here's what's going on. This superheated water comes up from somewhere in the earth's crust and it picks up calcium carbonate along the way. When it hits the surface, the water cools and deposits the calcium carbonate as it flows down the mountain.

Some of it is hard as rock (I think it technically is rock, actually). Some of it is like clay and mushy.

It naturally forms walls, pools, and rivers as it flows down the mountain. Although since it was named a UNESCO World Heritage site, they've been manually rerouting the rivers to give various parts of the mountain a break from foot traffic. So some older pools are dry now. And they've created new ones. I suppose it will be different every time you go, which is kind of appealing.

The view from the top over the valley and pools below is nice...

But the view from the infinity pools is ridiculous.

We just couldn't get over the color and contrast between the white walls and the blue water. We took a LOT of pictures.

Ok, let's break from the pools for a minute and head up to Hierapolis (we'll come back to the pools for sunset). :)

Our first stop was the "Church with Pillars." I was happy as a clam climbing all over everything - for it being a world heritage site, that's not usual.

Isa was tired...

Our next stop was the theatre, which was even cooler than the massive theatre in Ephesus yesterday.

This one was smaller, but the stage facade was definitely cooler.

Then we stopped at Cleopatra's pool, decided against the 30 TL entry fee, and hit up the museum, and then went back to the pools to relax. That lasted about 20 minutes and then we went back to Cleopatra's to change into our bathing suits.

Then I took a nap.

By the way, those walls are massive.

All over the place, these Russian and Ukrainian women take glamour shots. It's funny to watch them.

This is Isa's best shot at impersonating them.

As the sun sets, it lights up the walls and the whole mountain gets prettier and prettier.

Today was a great day. One of our best days.

Ephesus

Today was awesome!

We woke up at 6am this morning. Not by choice. By a screeching prayer blaring through a megaphone. I think it's funny that in America they've taken prayer out of almost everywhere, but here in Turkey they're forcefully injecting prayer into everywhere.

We tried to fall back asleep, Isa was much better at it than me. I've been having trouble sleeping. I'm thinking it may have something to do with the time change - I was in Alaska last week. And then Florida, New York, and now here. I'm afraid to admit it, but I may be getting older. My body isn't quite as resilient as it used to be. :(

Ali Baba served breakfast at 8 and then he drove us and a few others from the house to Ephesus at 9. It only opened 30 minutes before, but it was packed when we got there.

Two cruise ships were in town today, an MSC and a Royal Caribbean. Apparently this is the only tour when you're docked in Kusadasi because it seemed like all the passengers were here.

Fortunately, they had to move quickly and we had all day. So we moseyed along and found places away from the crowds and then eventually they all left.

But let's go back to the beginning. You start Ephesus on the south east corner, in the government/administration section with the Odeon concert hall and a few other ruins (1 and 2 in this map, which you can click on to view a larger version if you'd like).

I didn't take many pictures here, but you can see this part at the beginning of the video:


After the government part, you go through Hercules' Gate and enter the Street of Curetes. That's the really crowded street above (#4 on the map). That leads down into town where all the normal citizens lived. This street was decorated on both sides with some pretty impressive landmarks, like the Fountain of Trajan...

...and the Temple of Hadrian.

And other random coolness.

It was also the location of the Terrace Houses. Think Beverly Hills of Ephesus. These were 6 apartments owned by the wealthiest citizens of Ephesus. They were two stories, featured courtyards and fancy decorations, indoor heating and plumbing, even hot and cold water. All built from the 1st century BC to the 7th century AD.

There's a fancy roof overhead that protects the frescoes (basically, their wallpaper) from fading, and it also gave us a little reprieve from the sun. There are signs throughout to tell you where you are (which apartment) and what you're seeing. There are tons of stairs, but it's well worth the 15 Lira ($5USD) extra entry fee and the climb.

At the base of the Street of Curetes is the centerpiece of Ephesus: the Library of Celsus.

The library facade is magnificent. We took a LOT of pictures of it from every angle because it just looks so cool.

And this is where our brand new Canon G7X decided to stop working. :( I was taking Isa's picture in front of Knowledge:

And then the lens wouldn't retract and it kept giving me an error. We are not happy about this to say the least. :(

Luckily, I had my Olympus point and shoot with me as well, so I used that the rest of the day.

We walked through the market and into the Theatre, which is MASSIVE. It can hold 25,000 people! That's more than Madison Square Garden!!

And then we walked out the Harbour Road a little bit so we could kind of experience what it would have been like to enter Efes in all of its glory.

This wide road was lined on both sides with columns and led all the way to the waterfront. As you can see, most of the columns aren't there any more. Maybe someday they will be, along with the theatre facade and all the other structures around, as all the pieces are just sitting off to the side right now probably being mapped and indexed.

A side trail leads past the gymnasium to Mary's church. Remember at Jesus' crucifixion, the Savior told John to take care of Mary? Well, John came to Ephesus and he brought Mary with her. Mary's house is about 4 miles south of here, we visited St. John's basilica/burial site yesterday (supposedly he lived there too), and now this church is dedicated to Mary (although unlike John, Mary wasn't buried here - or anywhere - she was just taken up to heaven).

When you exit Ephesus, gift shops line both sides of the road to the parking lot. And as tempting as an oxymoronic sign like this is, we passed.

Minibuses ("Dolmus" in Turkish) come every 15 minutes or so and cost 2.5 Lira each for the 10-minute ride back to Selcuk. We still had time to kill before our train, so we wanted to visit the Temple of Artemis. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, so we were very excited to find it. The only problem was we weren't sure how to get there. We saw the location on a map, but no roads to get there.

So we found a trail with a gate that was left open and we went for it. We found goats.

But we soon ran into fences and barbed wire.

That is not the Temple of Artemis, so we went another direction and eventually ran into another fence and more goats and lots of pomegranates. At this point (4:52 in the video) we could see the temple, and figured out that we had to take the main road around and down, which we did, only to be sorely disappointed that the temple no longer stood. :(

Which probably explains why it wasn't higher on the list of things to do in Selcuk.

The path to the Temple is lined on both sides by exercise equipment, which we couldn't pass up. Not for health's sake, but for fun.

We tried them all out.

From here, we picked up our bags, bought some pastries, and walked over to the train where we successfully (and very simply) bought tickets to go to Denizli (15.75 Lira each, about $5.25 USD). The train ride was scenic, as this area is mostly farmland with mountains in the distance.

And then sunset was nice, although it set behind us since we're heading straight west, so we only saw it when the train turned.

Now we're in Denizli, which is the jumping off point for Pamukkale, and we are SO EXCITED to see Pamukkale in real life tomorrow.