Ozbay Hotel Pamukkale

... some postcards to mail so Sean asked how to get there. The same guy who tried to sell us a tour told him to hop on his scooter and he drove him there. I was impressed that even though we were not buy&#305;ng anything from him he was still being so nice. A further indication of how generous a lot of the people here are is that while we waited for our bus, some school kids walked by and offered us some Cheetos out of their bag!<br><br>Sean and Mel<br><br><br>

... make such a long haul by bus from Istanbul, and Rachel suggested that they likely came off of cruise ships traversing the Aegean. Ahhhh ... the religious cruise angle ... click! I'm curious how many other biblical cities they might be hopping off to - I could imagine Corith, but i suppose you'd have to be really hard core to make your way to Phillipi, Thessalonica, and whatever other towns are mentioned in the New Testament. Anyway, that theory was ...

... on a bicycle carrying a large jack, pry bar, and some large stones. We later learned that large rocks are the equivalent of pylons or traffic cones at home. After another few minutes with little progress I thought of offering some help after the lessons learned in Namibia (refer to earlier blog entry) but decided against it as traffic was racing past the bus. Eventually we were on the road again and we arrived in Pamukkale about 5 ...

... has trickled down the mountains for millennia, forming prehistoric calcium terraces on the side of the mountain. We all climbed to the top of the terraces to explore the ruins and the hot springs. We bush camped in the pouring rain in the mountains, ate lovely warm Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner and went to bed early.

... a 3 change bus trip. Again, just a pleasure watching all the country side, little towns and farmland then up in the hills with pine and spruce trees. Once away from the sea we have snow capped mountain ranges around us for most of the trip. We finally arrive in centre of this small country town. We talk to one chap and I go to look at the hotel. We decide on a place just around the corner and meet Adem and Ann Marie. They are both so very personable and just ...

... spectacular as it used to be. The other problem is the masses of rich Russians who come here and drive up the price of everything (the entrance to the site itself is about 20 dollars and a plain cheese sandwich is about 4. There is a pool with ancient Roman columns submerged underneath and it costs another 20 dollars a perso just for the privilege of swimming there - and yes it's full of rich Russians. Still, the place is worth seeing once in a lifetime...

... with trickling water from the overflowing pools. It was great to be able to walk in the pools - some people were even swimming and wading in them. We took our time as we wandered up and took many pictures along the way. Once we were at the top, we could see ruins in the background. This used to be an anceint city where many people lived, but due to frequent earthquakes, the citizens upped and moved. The large tourist boom of the 80s and 90s all but ...

Pamukkale is our base for exploring the travertines and the ruins of Hierapolis... and boy did we ever luck out. After an awful day at Efes we could not have asked for a nicer day in Pamukkale! The sun was shining all day and the temperature has been just great after lots of cold and rain... The travertines may well not be what they used to be but ...

... pulled out some old coins and slyly showed them to me and whispered "antique". I had heard about people trying to sell you coins, and although they generally are genuine, you can get in a heap of trouble and get a huge fine if you are caught with them (it is illegal to buy them). I politely declined but felt bad for the old woman, she looked very poor and had just chased me 50 metres up a hill in the heat - I felt like just giving her some money for her ...

... the only people there. Seems like most people come in the south gate which is closer to the tourist parts of the terraces and to the swimming areas. Coming in the north gate was pretty cool though - you are coming in trough the ancient Roman road into Hieropolis and both sides of this broad highway were used as a gigantic necropolis - around 2 kms long and very wide in places covered in huge stone sarcophagi. All have been broken into in the past, but the outsides are remarkably well ...