Day 86: Pamukkale

By far this was my favourite day of the trip so far. Our first visit was to another craft shop that made wool and silk Turkish carpets. They did a great job of explaining how the carpets were made and the differences between types, as well as all the symbolism involved. They also seemed much more interested in teaching about the heritage and showing us how things worked than they were about selling carpets, so it was a lot less pressure.




Next was the drive to Pamukkale. Pamukkale was one of the places I actually knew about in Turkey, and one of the things I was really looking forward to. Before I explain it, let me show the pictures:





No, there isn't a big glacier in the middle of southern Turkey. Pamukkale is a thermal spring that has been used for theraputic bathes since ancient times. Thousands of years of the mineral rich water flowing down the hill has left deposits, mostly of calcium, that cover everything in cotton-looking whiteness. It is rather stunning. At the top there are pools of the thermal water you can relax in, as well as some of the ancient bath ruins.

From there there is a path down along the face of the hill, full of smaller pools in the calcium rock to bathe in. You have to walk down barefoot to preserve the surface, and one of the amazing things to me is how you have almost perfect grip walking down steep slopes with water rushing along your feet.



After that fun we headed to our hotel, which was backed by a lovely little range of mountains. It was only 5:30 by the time I was checked in, so I decided to do some hiking. I climbed up the nearest hill first with a few people from my group then when they headed back decided to try the much higher and steeper one further in. Going up was a lot harder than I anticipated, as there were lots of very prickly plants and the steep sections I had to scale up, and coming down was even more challenging. There were a few sections where I had to do maneuvers I probably wouldn't recommend, but I was as safe as I could be and ultimately made it back down in one piece. It was a wonderful workout and certainly got my adrenaline going, and the few new cuts and scrapes were well worth the feeling of satisfaction.




The building in that last one is our hotel. I did my best to pick the thorns and other clingy bits out of my socks, but they are still unwearable, so I've been wearing sandals or my other socks. I'll have to wash them and hope I can clean them up, or I might have to buy replacements!