Pamukkale

Sunday 1st June

We drove into Pamukkale and found the campsite on the main road with view of the Travertines. We negotiated a fair price and with its convenience and good facilities we were happy to call the place home for three nights. Our first afternoon was spent doing the usual house duties, washing clothes, the vans, took the bikes off and gave them a good clean and then went for a walk around the small village.

The next morning we decided to walk up the hill to the Travertines and Heiropolis, we paid the entrance fee and with instructions to remove our shoes when we reached them we walked on. Arriving at the start of the white stretch of chalky hillside we were exited to finally able to see them close up. With the water flowing down the path we expected it to be slippery, but the chalky deposit was surprisingly not slippery. We had decided to leave early to get a start before the busloads of tourists but it was obviously not early enough and we were surprised how many people were already walking  around taking in the sights. The stark white of the calcium deposits and the blue of the water pools is a wonderful sight and we enjoyed the climb up the hill as it was interesting as well as entertaining, watching all the people negotiate the puddles and standing in the shallow water pools having their holiday snapshots taken. Arriving at the top, shoes were put on and we went to explore the ruins of Heiropolis, an ancient Greco-Roman and Byzantine city built at the top of the white hill. We walked through the ancient ruins and up to the partially restored amphitheatre before deciding it was time to walk down to camp again. We were about to descend when the wind increased and we could see the dust clouds rising across the valley below towards us. Standing above the travertine’s the wind whipped the water up over us and we watched the many tourists trying to find a windbreak to get out of the strong gusts. We waited until the winds died down a little and then took our shoes off to walk back down, it was still very windy but we took our time walking down pleased that the wind was blowing onto the hill and not blowing us off.

That evening we decided to eat in one of the restaurants in the village, Clyde searched out a good value for money one and we had a nice meal sitting outside watching the local traffic go past.

The next day spent in Pamukkale was  a “rest” day, time to swim in the pool, read, do nothing and we enjoyed being a bit lazy. We found the campsite to be quiet during the day, but at night the local nightclub would get going and the base beat of the monotonous music would penetrate even our ear plugs, so time to move on.

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