Last night, Craig had the incline to check the weather forecast and sure enough, things are about to change. Rain is on its way. With a pending visit to the geological oddity of Pamukkale we decided to move from Laodicea, so we could make the most of an early start. In Pamukkale we bumbled around trying to find a good sleepy spot but we didn’t get a good feeling. Unsavoury characters and folk loitering in bushes gave the place a feeling that petty theft is probably rife. Feeling a little uncomfortable we pulled in at Baydil Camping (big carpark), which is straight facing Pamukkale entrance. A little over priced at £10 for the night but given how all the factors we were happy to pay…until we were greeted by an extremely rude young lad. Clearly he’d had a bad day and with a lack of customers he just decided to double the price. Umm no wonder his campsite is empty! I politely declined and we moved on.

Eventually, we parked on a small dirt car park just two minutes walk to the lower entrance to Pamukkale (two minutes walk from picture above).  Our wifi reception is pretty good, so we managed to log on, reply to all our wonderful comments and check our emails.  Wifi’s been really hit and miss this last week, which is bazaar given we are now entering the more populated areas?  The logic of wifi does baffle me!  Anyway, checking through emails and we find a beautiful email from Bonnie & Dave, an American couple travelling in their Burstner Lyceo.  Where this couple haven’t been is beyond me and their photographs are amazing, check them out here.  Thanks for reaching out guys x x x

Our Bumble parking spot at Pamukkale GPS position N037.918159, E029.122192

The following morning and sure enough the weather had turned. Grey clouds loomed above and a cold breeze had us reaching for our fleeces. We walked up the ‘break your neck’ path to the site entrance and paid 50TL (£6) which, covers entrance in to the travertine formations and Hierapolis. As we approach Pamukkale it looks more like a freeze dried ski slope. A weird long white smudge along the edge of a plateau. The Turks have dubbed this geological fairyland “Cotton Castle” and it is so easy to see why.

As we ascend we look down on a empty man made complex set around a lake. Piped music and swan shaped pedalos are all ready for the tour buses, as well as a couple of fake travertine terraces.

As we approach the beginning of the travertine we are asked to remove our shoes. Stepping on to the white stuff is weird as your head keeps telling you it is slippy. It is so bright it really does look like snow. This incredible natural phenomenon was created by the hot spring waters that gush up at the centre of the ancient city of Hierapolis. As we approach the pools, the hot water trickles down, so nice on this dull and cool morning.

Craig is stood on the edge looking somewhat perplexed and his expression is one of disgust. I ask him whats wrong. “This cascade of pools is all man made and you can see the big chunks of bloody concrete. How shabby it looks.” He was right, I was too busy looking at the overall site to notice the detail.

We continued along the path running alongside a cascade of man made terraces. The water runs continually, flowing down from pool to pool, as well as in a gushing channel to the side. People bathe here in the calcite waters, but not this morning it is way too cold. A chap with a parrot throws the poor bird from shoulder to shoulder until some meek soul freezes. He takes a photo and a few quid for the privilege. It is years since we have seen this type of animals gimmickry and surprised to see if still goes on.

For the first time we realise just how many people have been along the travertine express. And how much they’ve brought with them. The narrow path is soon submerged beneath people and their stuff. Chairs, lengths of carpet, great bulging sacks, tea pots, swimsuits, tent bags. We slowly make our way to the top.

OI am not sure if Craig is getting more annoyed or more disappointed but his face is frowned. “Look how beautiful that is and they are just ruining the whole thing. We can see the blinding white travertine terraces spread out before us and there is no water in them. Where is the classic view of the extraordinary tiers of Pamukkale filled with turquoise water? Where is the view that appears in all the advertising, the postcards, the official government site? Where is the view…nowhere. The travertine is dry.”

At the top of the plateau we put on our shoes and take the board walk that looks down on the pools. Information points tell us more about the landscape. A shifting fault line long ago allowed an opening for the water to escape from deep in the earth. On reaching the surface the calcium and hydrogen carbonate in the water react to create calcium carbonate, or travertine, and limestone. Slowly over thousand years the water flowed away and the minerals were left behind to harden and form the terraces. People have bathed in these pools for thousands of years. The white cliff of Pamukkale is 2.7 kilometres long by 600 metres wide and 160 metres high.

We try to find out why the travertine is dry but no real answers. Apparently they divert water at different times of the day in to the ancient pools. This is to preserve the pools and also build the tourist route. We can see that happens at certain points but it is only a small section. The majority of the pools have not seen water for years, you can see the build up of dirt and dark staining in the travertine. Large sections of the cotton clouds are slowly dying despite what anyone says, so sad. As a tourist, I would rather admire the pools in their natural state from afar and forfeit a bathe if it meant keeping them.

At the end of the plateau we about turn and return via the Hierapolis ruins. We walked through the old agora, tombs, theatre and scattered ruins up to the theatre. I am not sure if it was the fact we were disheartened by Pamukkale or spoiled by great ruins of Laodocia but it didn’t really grab our attention. Shame really because the theatre is certainly might impressive.

Theatre

A quick walk around the thermal baths, which by now were heaving beyond belief. At £6 per person extra for a dip in the hot spring water we opted to play with the pups. Half a dozen abandoned puppies appealed more than a pool full of screaming kids.

We head back down and blue skies start to break. The sun is trying its best to break out and its good enough to entice people in to their swim wear. The channel of warm rushing water runs the length of the artificial terraces from top to bottom.

We watch a family at play. Dressed in swimsuits, the man and his two sons are sitting in the channel immersed up to their necks, playing and laughing as the water gushes over them. The wife and mother wears a long skirt, a full length and long sleeved coat, and a scarf wrapped over her head. She stands beside the channel in her stockinged feet watching them.

We get back to Vin and later that night we reflect on our visit. There is absolutely no doubt that Pamukkale is one of the weirdest and most fascinating rock formations we have seen. Of all our travels around the world we have not seen anything like it. It is beautiful and unique. We are glad we have seen it but we also leave with a heavy heart. From our conversations with locals, the decline set in many years ago. The natural wonder attracted a wave of hotels, the start of a booming tourist industry. A dark age of destruction and neglect followed. Thankfully, UNESCO along with Turkish government raised funds to remove the hotels and restore the plateau and ruins back to their original state. Now it is a case of allowing nature to once again take its course, which will take hundreds of years to repair. Sadly, Pamukkale is a casualty of history, excessive tourism and greed. A shadow of what it must once have been but still an outstanding natural phenomenon.