Tandc2007's travel blogs:
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Hieropolis and the Terraces
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Awake at 3 am with the drummer - but the one on Pamukkale had absolutely no rhythm! And instead of setting off car alarms, he just set off all the village dogs! And about 5am, the call to prayer came over the minaret loud speakers - only this iman couldn't sing. Never thought we'd appreciate the Selcuk wake up noisesr so much....
Later that morning, we arrived up at the north gate of Hieropolis about 10 am, expecting to find it jammed with tour buses and their loads - but we were just about 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 preserved - yu can still see the carvings and the inscriptions on many. The archaeologists have put up signs with the translations of some of these - mostly they say "this sarcophagus belongs to so-and-so and only these people can be buried in it and if anyone else uses it these are the fines they have to pay" But there's one that has this huge curse on any one who uses the sarcophagus with out authority - its great!! "May you never enjoy your children or your lives, and may you die barren and lifeless (which is a bit of an oxymoron!) and may all kinds of illnesses befall you. And after your death may the avenging Gods of the underworld take you...." (So let that be a warning!!)
The city had the now expected monumental ruins of temples, agoras, public baths and fountains. What makes Hieropolis special is its location above the huge travertine terraces. These existed before the city was built and the mineral laden water was believed to be a health cure even then (although all the tombs in the necropolis seem to indicate this faith might have been misplaced....). Today the sacred pool which was probably the centre of the ancient city, still exists, although its surrounded by an immense swimming pool building with changing sheds, lockers and a restaurant complex. The pool itself, looks lovely - full of ruined Roman columns and blocks and surrounded by greenery, but it's so full of (mostly East European and Russian) bodies, its more like people soup than anything close to an inviting swim!
We wandered around the small museum, which is inside the ruins of a massive Roman public bath complex. Its either been restored exceptionally well, or at least one of the huge vaulted rooms has remained largely intact over the centuries, as this is used to house the best of the statues and sarcophagi found on the site. Chris found the building even more interesting then the priceless artefacts it holds!! It was very hot up in the site and after we had wandered back among the ruins and on the top of the terraces, the only thing we wanted to do was head back to the hotel for a swim in the pool (even the small pensions have pools here - all the same mineral water that comes off the terraces).
In the early evening, we headed back up on the terraces to watch the sunset - around 7pm. The tour bus crowds had mostly gone by then, although there were still quite a few people around. From the centre of town at the base of the terraces, you can walk up to the top. Back in the 60's several huge hotels were built at the top of the terraces and a road was built leading to them. The Government has pulled the hotels down now, as it seemed as if they were damaging the terraces. And it looks as if they built a series of concrete pools on the road - and after the 15 or 20 years its been, these too have become coated in calcium deposits and will soon be part of the terraces. We have read some criticism of these concrete pools that have been created, but it seems to us that in less than 50 years it will be hard to tell the difference between the "natural" travertine pools and terraces and these "artificial" ones. And in the meantime, the authorities appear to be doing a good job in trying to maintain this natural wonder (despite the crowds). Unfortunately we didn't really get any sunset - clouds had set in and obscured it. But it was very pleasant sitting up there in the cool of the evening, and at least the walk up and down was good exercise!!!
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