Turkish White Walkers

Monday, April 30, 2018
Pamukkale, Denizli, Turkey
We left our cute little guesthouse in Selcuk, walked down to the train station, and caught the 9am train eastbound to Denizli (pronounced Denise-Lee). Denizli, despite having an AMAZING name, is the kind of place you only go to en route to somewhere else. And on that note, following the three-hour train journey from Selcuk, we immediately flagged down a dolmus for the twenty-minute ride to Pamukkale (pa-MOO-kuh-lay).
Pamukkale is famous for its chalk-white travertines, or terraces, which cascade warm, turquoise mineral water down the mountain. It's an absolutely shocking sight; it looks like a snow-covered mountain, but everyone is in shorts. The water is bathtub-warm, and a cerulean blue that matches the sky. I kept expecting a skier to whip by me as I walked up the mountain. Visually, it's a bit of a mind-fuck; as I told Matt, it's like when you bite into what you think is a chocolate truffle but it's really meat. Your eyes are telling you a completely different story than all your other senses.
Pamukkale's travertines are UNESCO-protected, so unlike in the past when visitors could tromp all over the site, now you must remove your shoes, and walk up on the designated pathway. It's a bizarrely refreshing sensation, with the warm water, the soft chalk, and the smooth white surface. But again, it's just weird. The closest I've come to seeing something this uniquely strange is Egypt's White Desert, or the Blue Lagoon in Iceland.
The walk up the travertines took about thirty minutes, with multiple stops for photos and to admire the breathtaking view. This was the most striking, holy-shit thing I've seen since I first saw the enormity of the Palais du Papes in Avignon (and I mean that literally; both then and today I was stopped short by the view and said "holy shit" out loud). To me, Pamukkale's travertines are one of those "how could such amazing things exist in my world without my knowing it" places. It's that incredible.
When we reached the top, we strolled through the shady cliffside park, then headed up to the ruins of the Roman and Byzantine city of Hieropolis. Founded in 190 BC, the ruins of the city sit above the travertines; but rather than cool blue and white colors and gentle breezes, Hieropolis is brown, scrubby, and hell-hot. The temperature today was in the 90s, so a mile-long, dusty hike straight uphill was possibly the least pleasant option for our afternoon. But hey! We paid our entrance fee, and history nerds aren't scared off by a little heat...or ravenous bugs....or a water bottle whose contents had progressed to "warm and vaguely sulphuric."
Despite believing we might actually fall over and die from dust and heat, we made it to the most famous site in Hieropolis- the Roman theater. It was built by Emperor Hadrian (he of the famous wall) and once housed 12,000 spectators. It's still pretty damned impressive today, as it has retained most of its structure, and even some of its statuary.
I've been fascinated by the Biblical history in this region, and Hieropolis features the site (supposedly) where the Apostle Philip was martyred (again, supposedly). One never knows how much of these myths are true, but in 2011, archaeologists SAID they discovered his tomb in Hieropolis. So given the newness and importance of this discovery, my dual love of dead things and history overcame the kill-me-now prospect of climbing even higher up that hill.
After viewing the Byzantine tomb of St. Philip, we began our long trek back down to the travertine entrance. The temperature had cooled considerably- because of course it did, since we were now walking downhill- and by 5pm we were back in the Pamukkale's village. We stopped at a small outdoor restaurant for spinach pancakes and tea (our new Turkish obsession), then headed back to our little guesthouse to play in the pool, take a nap, and enjoy a late dinner by the pool.
Tomorrow we travel another three hours west to the harborside town of Antalya!  

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