Pamukkale

Frozen waterfall
Originally uploaded by ccarlstead

My mom’s last weekend in Turkey provided another opportunity to visit one of my goals…the small town of Pamukkale. The town isn’t really much, and it definitely wasn’t the reason for the visit. No, we were going to see the reason for the town – the name translates as Cotton Castle. It’s called this because as you reach the center of the town your attention is drawn to this enormous, flowing white structure. I’m not really sure structure is a good word for it. Rather it is an awe inspiring natural formation that came about as natural springs poured mineral rich water over the hillside. The minerals slowly filtered out leaving white deposits of calcium on the hill. Years of this has left a hard formation covering the hillside with a series of pools, hardened waterfalls and formations which remind of some of the salt formations at the edge of the Dead Sea. I’m struggling for the words to explain it to you. Perhaps my pictures will give you a better sense of the impressiveness of the site which is not designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site. Along with that designation came several rules to hopefully maintain the formations and possibly return them to their previous bounty. Hotels at the top were torn down. Water flow is a bit more controlled and directed. Shoes must come off and be carried if you want to walk across the travertines (it is a bit like walking on a really big pumice stone – my feet felt a bit raw after traversing them twice). You’re only allowed to enter the bottom few (shallow) pools and guards with whistles chase off anyone who ventures to high, although we enjoyed cooling off in one for almost an hour after we’d explored the ruins of Hierapolis on top (with a well preserved theater and St. Phillip’s martyrdom site). What a lovely, relaxing and definitely new day that was!