Pamukkale, which means "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a huge natural limestone formation in Turkey. The formation was formed by mineral deposits from thermal springs and contains many thermal pools. On top of this limestone formation are the ruins of the Greco-Roman city of Hierapolis. This site has been visited by tourists and travelers for thousands of years.
Pamukkale was the first overnight stop on my road trip through Turkey with @doctorcrypto. We had started the day in Bodrum and stopped for a few hours in the ancient city of Ephesus. After 2.5 more hours of driving, we arrived at Pamukkale just as the sun was setting.
The drive through the countryside was very pleasant. We loved the freedom of having our own transportation. Traffic was light on the highways and the countryside was gorgeous.
We had planned on spending the night in the city of Denizli but we changed our plans as soon as we entered the city. I wasn't prebooking our rooms, but I was using the booking.com app to find places to stay. The city of Denizli was so chaotic and busy that we couldn't find any of the hotels that we were looking for. @doctorcrypto was getting stressed out by all of the crazy drivers so we parked the car and tried to figure things out on foot. Our situation didn't improve on foot and we decided to drive the rest of the way to Pamukkale and hope to find a hotel there.
We were so glad that we drove all the way to Pamukkale instead of staying in Denizli. We found a lovely and inexpensive hotel right across the street from the Pamukkale park. The staff at the hotel were amazing and went out of their way to make us feel welcome and comfortable. The slow pace of the small town at Pamukkale was dream compared to the hectic intensity of Denizli.
That evening we went out and found some dinner. Then we relaxed on the nice rooftop patio that the hotel had. We drank a few beers then turned in for the night.
The next day we walked across the street to the park. At the entrance, we paid a small fee and were told that shoes weren't allowed in the park. Due to damage that centuries of tourism had caused to the limestone formation, shoes were now forbidden in the park.
The rock formation looks a lot like cotton, but it definitely does not feel like cotton! It wasn't too bad though. The stone is mostly smooth, but it was still a long way to walk with bare feet.
The view from on top of the formation was incredible. We were lucky that the weather was clear and we could see for miles.
The pools that formed in the rock were super impressive. They have such a strange shape. They look almost like a fungus or something living.
The limestone formation occurred naturally, but now the pools are managed by the park. Hotels and tourism caused a lot of damage and now the park administration controls the water. On some days they feed water to certain pools, on other days they feed the water to other pools.
On top of the formation are the ruins of the ancient Greco-Roman city of Hierapolis. The area that we saw didn't have very many intact ruins, but it was still and interesting site to see.
Hierapolis has definitely seen better days, but I can't help but be fascinated by these old places.
After exploring the ruins, we headed back down to the park entrance. Lots of people had showed up to enjoy the water and the beauty of the park.
Even though we had already checked out of our hotel, the staff at Hotel Sahin let us use one of the rooms to take showers after the hot hike through the park. After we got cleaned up and cooled off, we loaded up into the car and headed towards our next destination.
Join us tomorrow as we continue our journey towards Istanbul!