“The Cotton Fortress,” a unique natural landmark, where hot springs, rich in calcium, bubble out of the ground and fall down this cliff. It dries quickly as this brilliant white rock, and forms pools. Despite how it looks like snow/ice, it’s very warm. Pamukkale has been a spa since the Romans built the city Hierapolis around the hot springs. The entrance fee was 20 Lira (about $10), or Müzekart also worked here.
Here you can see the white paste in the water after I disturbed it. When it’s still, it reflects the blue sky, as seen below. This paste is what forms the hard rocky cliffs of the natural wonder.
This picture is one of my favorites. You can see the long line of pools with their wonderful blue. Also in this picture you can see the two men in the foreground. Business men who came just to dip their feet in the warm water. While here I saw lots of people, of all ages, many older people also, to benefit from the healing powers of the thermal pools.
Pamukkale is near the city Denizli, and near either of the entrances (north or south), there is a collection of small stores selling hats, sunscreen, water, snacks and sunglasses. Sunscreen and sunglasses are a must. The white cliffs are blinding, especially with the bright sun! With some bargaining, we got my sunglasses for 10 Lira (about $5).
Paumkkale was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988 and was saved from almost complete destruction from misuse. Now the site closes off certain areas at different times so that the cliffs can form naturally and not be hurt by humans. Because of this, they require no shoes on the white cliffs. The rock is so hard, and textured so much that it’s hard to slip on it (easy to stub your toes though!). In the pools, especially near the edge, is a little slippery so watch out there.
This is the place where you have to take off your shoes. I love the huge difference between the brown of the earth and the white of the cliffs.
The rock is very hard, so watch your toes. I stubbed mine all day. But boy, was it beautiful. These pictures don’t do it justice.
Near some of the pools were waterfalls; this was the biggest we saw (and where my eye problems began).
The different textures of the water flow on the rock was so fascinating to me; I took many pictures, these are just my favorites.
Near the top of the cliffs, some of the rock looked red. I’m not sure if it was natural or man who made it that way, but it made the water flow carving look amazing.
The variety in the rock was what really was fascinating.
These were more textures that looked like miniature versions of the famous pools.
It really was like a dream. It was so beautiful, we didn’t want to leave.
As we left I “stole” some of the paste with some water. The water is what kept the paste from turning to rock in the bottle.
We took a picture before moving on to the next part of Pamukkale.
The Antique Pool. There was an earthquake in Hierapolis, completely destroying the Roman temple of Apollo. Because it was so close to the springs, it was turned into the beautiful thermal swimming pool where you can swim among the ruins. It was so beautiful and eerie at the same time.
It cost 35 Lira to enter the pool (Müzekart did not work for this). It seemed a little steep, but it was 100% worth it. They gave us these gorgeous tickets, and then didn’t let us keep them.
The pool was so warm (35.2 Celcius, 95.4 Fahrenheit) and I never got used to it. It kept hitting me in waves of amazing warmth. It was constantly fed by a hot spring and drained to go down the white cliff, among other places, so the water was very clean and 100% natural.
A sign near the pool listing the milligrams/liter of water for many elements, including oxygen, chlorine, potassium and calcium, and also included pH level and a few more things I didn’t know existed.
There was another sign near the elements sign that listed just a few of the diseases and problems that the thermal pool can help cure including chronic respiratory problems, obesity, and blood pressure problems.
I had a lot of trouble with my contacts the entire time I was there. It was hard for me to keep my eyes open long enough to take a decent picture most of the time. It must have been the calcium in the water that made my contacts not want to stay in my eyes and hurt so bad. I have really terrible vision so I had to keep my contacts in, but I suffered the whole time. If you wear contacts, try to completely avoid getting your eyes wet at all costs, or keep solution and a contact case with you. If it weren’t for this personal setback, it would have been a perfect day.
You can The rope going the length of part of the pool showed the deep end. Süleyman was able to dive all the way to the bottom (probably 5 meters) multiple times. We very unfortunately forgot his waterproof camera, so we missed out on a lot of really amazing pictures.
Süleyman made friends with a few of the workers at the pool who were swimming before their shift. After the pool closed to the public at 7 p.m., they began restoration of part of the pool and they couldn’t work under the water so they drained the entire pool in about an hour, then simply let it fill again when they were done.
Near one of the entrances there was a very short column that reached just under the surface of the water, so we pretended to be Roman gods. Here Süleyman is Hercules.
Standing on another fallen column, this was near the deep end, and falling down would mean 4 meters down in the water.
When we got to the pool it was littered with people, but after an hour or two in the warm water….
It cleared up a lot, and eventually it was just us and another couple in the whole pool. We left right before another huge crowd entered.
We spent so long here and had so much fun swimming among the ruins we had completely forgotten about the Cotton Fortress. It really was an amazing place and skipping this pool would be a mistake. If you make it all the way to Pamukkale, make it to the pool; the fee is completely worth it.
Just up the hill from the Cotton Fortress, and on the way to the Ancient Pool is a taste of some ruins. These are so beautiful and somehow are still standing. They could have been reconstructed, but some of the structures were still standing, it was so wonderful. If you have this view and turn around, you will see a museum, which we didn’t have time to go to, but looked interesting. There were a few other trails you could go on to see other ruins, but we only saw the big ones due to time constraints.
A huge building, still mostly standing. If you look closely, you’ll see I’m standing, near the top, on the right side of the picture.
More broken columns, the taller of the two standing had a huge crack across the circumference and looked like it could have fallen at any minute. Many of the ruins were being organized for some reconstruction and restoration, which would be nice to see in a few years.
More standing columns near the road.
The 12,000 seat Roman amphitheater of Hierapolis from afar.
And up close. It was difficult to walk up the hill to get there (especially after swimming all day, and not eating or drinking anything), but it was worth it. It was very beautiful, and mostly preserved.
Except they were reconstructing the stage area while we were there. There were more piles of ruins, carefully organized near the foot of the amphitheater. This will definitely be on my list to revisit when the restoration is finished.
Some of the steps were growing grass and they were uneven, but most of the theater was in tip-top shape and looked amazing.
After a long walk back to the entrance, we left right as the sun was setting on the beautiful clear water. It was a nearly perfect day and if you’re making a trip to turkey I would highly recommend coming here.
Quick tips for a day long trip: bring a backpack, wear a swimsuit and light clothes that are easy to take off, sunglasses, sunscreen, WATER! SNACKS! We were so starved when we left and very thirsty. There was a cafe at the Ancient Pool, but we didn’t want to spend a lot of money there. Bring enough money, a towel, and expect to hurt yourself somehow. I stubbed my toes all over the white cliffs, got cut on my legs and feet by the Ancient Pool and could barely see from the water in my contact lenses. And step back from everything, close your eyes and just listen, smell and feel.
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