The ride to Pamukkale was going to be a fair ride with around 270km to cover. I had discussed the route with one of the men working at Blue Star Hotel and we agreed the slight longer route would be more interesting. I was packed up, loaded up, paid-up and ready to go around 10am.
I had used a combination of Google Maps, Google Earth and the GPS to try and sort out the route. I had significant towns listed, highway numbers and all seemed pretty good. At one point the road split with options to go to the same place in both directions. Since one choice had the road number I was wanting to following I took it. The road turned quickly uphill and climbed steeply through many tight corners. At the top of the mountain it quickly dropped to do the same downhill to the other side. All that seemed to happen was that I had taken the old road that avoids the tunnel that has a toll attached to it as you exit onto the highway. I joined the highway just after the toll gates having enjoyed a brief stretch of intensely twisting mountain road - a little bonus along the way.
The highway continued for a while before I needed to take an option for a smaller scale road. As my directions were a little limited and there hadn't been a sign to where I was going (except in the other direction) for quite some time I decided to stop for directions and an ice cream.
The men at the service station were very helpful and when I moved the list of directions out of the way on the map in the tank bag I could now see the road I had been looking for in front of me….
The little road that I took was great with some small villages, some ups and downs through flowing bends and barely another vehicle on the way.
Out the other end I was back on a larger highway with the seemingly omnipresent roadworks spooling the way ahead. It seems the roadworks may have been the cause of a serious problem for one of the cement truck drivers, possibly working on the road too, who had rolled his truck over on one of the bends. After a brief wait while they cleared the road those of us who had queued up were back on our way.
I arrived into Pamukkale mid-afternoon and saw the signs to several pensions, hotels and accommodation. I had a list of my Top 3 choices so I quickly pulled over to confirm the signage with my list. As I had read on TripAdvisor the day before there is a woman in a red polo shirt on a red scooter who chases people down to take them other place to stay. I had stopped before her down the hill. Undeterred she got on the scooter and came down to try her best to convince me to go with her to her place. I told her I would just have a quick look back up in town and I would be back soon………….After avoiding several other people running out into the road in front of me selling accommodation or books on Pamukkale I mad it to the other edge of town and came back through the smaller streets to the signs to the place on the top of my list - Melrose House Hotel.
Thankfully they had a comfortable room and when the time came my bike would be parked inside the gates.
I quickly readied myself to head up to tour the Pamukkale attractions since there were still a few hours of sunlight left in the day and knocking them over would mean I could head off reasonably early in the morning. The drawcards for Pamukkale are the white travertines and Hierapolis on the hill overlooking the village.
The hot springs flow from the top of the hill and are controlled as they flow downhill.
To walk up the flowing travertines you need to go barefoot and walk through pools and flowing water. The surface is mostly incredibly grippy, and pleasant to walk on with very few areas being sharp or slippery. As has been the case in many other places throughout Turkey I was not the only person there. There is a constant stream of people both and up and down the hill pathway.
I had dressed ready for a swim in the warm waters.
Instead of a free swim in the lower pools I paid for the 'Antique Swim' experience.
Although I could have possibly ducked in for a swim while the gate attended was elsewhere I then would have been cautiously watching my personal belongings left unattended. So I paid for the swim in the Antique Pool. The warm water is very clear with bubbles effervescing on the surface. It was very relaxing after a fairly long ride into Pamukkale to sit in dappled sun in the warm water on the ruins while some of the bubbles gathered on my skin.
The hot eye stinging spring is quite deep.
I had been unsure of putting my head underwater and only gave it a go after I saw some Americans dive underneath some of the ruins and come out the other side. The water was so clear I had assumed it wasn't very deep. Although I didn't dive under the ruins I saw that the Americans were dropping to the bottom, sitting around then returning to the surface and it was quite deep. I dropped down to the bottom and could feel the pressure in my ears and the stinging in my eyes. Between us we agreed it would be more than 4m deep. The Americans suggested the water didn't sting as much if you squinted……not sure it made much difference.
I dried off and then decided I would take in some ruins. Hierapolis are the ruins of the city that made use of the hot springs as a spa since the 2nd C BC. The ruins of Hierapolis stretch out both sides of the source of the hot spring and made use of the natural water supply.
The Domitian Gate on the main street of Hierapolis.
Hierapolis is interesting in that it was created to take advantage of the natural springs and thrived as a 'health resort'. The ruins spread out across the plateau and give a clear impression of how the town was laid out.
On the way back I saw much more of the extent of the travertines and how they water flows are managed to keep the travertines forming, clean and free of algae. There is an extensive network of channels that allow the water flow to various areas to be turned on and off.
The flow of water to the pools is carefully controlled so some are dry.
And some are wet.
And some are for tourists.
To have their photo taken in front of.
It was an afternoon well spent visiting the travertine pools, Antique Pool and Hierapolis ruins. It was time to get back to Melrose House for dinner.
Melrose House put on a wonderful dinner of lamb chops with stuffed vegetables and too much salad accompanied by some tasty local red wine. It was a fine end to the day.