Pamukkale

After touring the ruins of Ephesus, we went back to Kusadasi on the Turkish coast and spent the night.  The next day, we rented a car and drove three hours up the Meander River Valley.  (The twisting course of this river gave rise to the word "meander.")  Near Denizli, from a distance of about ten miles, we first saw the gleaming white travertine cliffs of Pamukkale.  The word means "cotton castle" in Turkish, and it is a pretty accurate description.  These pools of water cascading down the hillside would remind you of the Mammoth Hot Springs at the north end of Yellowstone.  There are 20 or 25 pools of water formed by the evaporation of calcium in the water, the same way a stalagmite is formed in a cave.  The pools have 3' to 5' walls where they adjoin the cliff, and then taper out to nil on the other side.  Very hard to explain, but they look for all the world like they are man-made.  The hillside is about 300' high.  You walk up part way, take your shoes off, and then you are in the warm water all the way to the top. 

Above Pamukkale are the ruins of Hieropolis.  This was a major city in the first and second centuries, and it is important in Catholic studies as the home of Papias, one of the earliest Catholic presbyters of whom we still possess writings. (Incidently, Eusebius, the fourth century church historian, had read Papias, and he commented that "he must have been a man of very low intelligence, to judge by his writings."  The mainstream of Catholicism had shifted that much in the intervening 200 years.)  Hieropolis was considered a holy city because of the "magical" springs and pools, and people came from all over to be healed.  There is a necropolis next to Hieropolis with over 1000 sepulcres.  The Turks built a pool over some ruins, and we got to swim amid the Greek columns just under water.

On the way down, the sun was coming in at a low angle, hitting the sulfur and iron deposits on the white rock.  It made the most amazing gold color.  I wondered if the camera would pick it up, but it did.