Day 14: Pamukkale

The next morning we had another early bus ride to Pamukkale, about 3 hours away. Our first stop was a local hotel, very unique as it was set over two separate buildings with gardens, a pool and tree houses separating them. We had a chance to change and hear the lunch menu from the lady described by Jen as one of the best cooks in Turkey, and then had a short ride into town up the hill to Hierapolis and the Travertines. The highlight of the ruins was the theatre, with its amazing view and lovely smooth flowing lines. The rest of the ruins were scattered over a large area so we didn’t look at much, even though it was a lovely day and setting. Having spent the previous morning at Ephesus it was more than enough ruins. We looked at the thermal pools but 18 lira seemed a steep price to pay for what is essentially a warm bath shared with strangers. The final part was our walk down the Travertines, a long slope of hard white calcium rock and milky pools. The postcards show bikini-clad ladies frolicking, but you’re not actually allowed to swim and I only saw one girl in a bikini and she looked cold (and a bit silly considering everyone else was clothed). You aren’t allowed to wear shoes (only bare feet or socks), but it wasn’t too rough, a lot like rock pools at the beach. The best bit was sitting on the edge of a trough and resting your feet in the warm flowing water. Bliss. When we finally made it down the hill we were taken back to the hotel and sat on a verandah in the garden where a man from Queensland gave us our cutlery and said he’d been there for 3 weeks and didn’t plan on leaving anytime soon; I could see why. We had a great lunch of stuffed vegies and kebabs and meatballs and then had the chance to use one of the hotel rooms for a shower and a change, which Toby and I did, or just relax and digest until it was time to go to the train.

We got on the train at Denizli and unfortunately it wasn’t nearly as nice as the previous one; it was much older and had signs of wear and tear, and was very very smoky. Although there’d been talk of a party on the train, Toby and I locked ourselves in our cabin all night, trying to avoid the smoke and high-pitched whine of the corridor lights. Not much fun. It was a long 16 hours on that train.