The Cube

On paper, my bus ticket was from Göreme to Denizli. When I bought the ticket, I requested for ticket to Pamukkale. The bus ticket seller told me that the bus would bring me to Denizli, then I would be transferred to a shuttle to Pamukkale. The bus company I took was KamilKoc. Interestingly, when I just searched for it again, there is only 1 option - Nevşehir Seyahat. I paid TL330 for my overnight bus ticket. 

This is probably the better option compared to the one I took for this route. The reason why I said this is because I met a Singaporean family on my green tour in Cappadocia. Coincidentally our itinerary were similar till Pamukkale stop. When I coincidentally met them again while roaming around in Hierapolis, they told me that their bus actually went all the way to Pamukkale and it has better ratings. I got my bus ticket based it criterias of destination, price and time. 

On arrival in Pamukkale, we were brought to the tour company who picked us up from Denizli otogar. I had to listen to a sales pitch on what tours they offered and thereafter they would send us to our accommodation respectively. I ended up walking to the hotel I booked because it would probably be much faster anyway. 

This is the map given by the tour company and here is my dumb story. I have this map with me since morning before I entered the site. I know there are 3 gates - lower gate, south gate and north gate. I was also informed that the lower gate is the nearest to the town and needing to cross the man-made travestine, so we were advised to enter via the south gate as south gate is also the gate that opens the earliest. Even with these information fed to me, when I was ready to leave the site, I walked towards south gate, then to north gate and back to the man-made travertines only to realise I needed to cross that to reach the gate I wanted to get to. The only reason I found out was because I bumped into the Singaporean family again and they asked if I was going to join the 'pilgramage'. Ah, so dumb. 

Pamukkale is made famous by white calcite travertines or terraces that is also known as the Cotton Castle as 'pamuk' means cotton in Turkish. Just above the travertines, lies Hierapolis, once a Roman and Byzantine spa city. 

After dropping my bag at the hotel, I walked to the south gate. Someone driving a car stopped to offer me a lift which I declined but so tempted as it was an uphill trek. Entrance ticket for travertines and Hirerapolis was TL200, and this included entrance to Hierapolic Archeological Museum. Additional fee applies to the hot thermal pool though.

The travertine terraces form when water from the nearby hot springs loses carbon dioxide as it flows down the slopes, leaving deposits of limestone. Layers of white calcium carbonate, built up in the plateau. Hence, the name Pamukkale. 

The actual natural travertines are not accessible for preservation purposes. The ones open to public are man-made, marked as number 37 in the map. 

I entered via the south gate, spent some time at the top of the man-made travertines (i.e. the part furthest away from the lower gate) and then visited the Hierapolis Archaelogical Site towards the north gate. Then I walked back and visited the museum, then walked along the travertines towards the north gate thinking that was the lower gate (see dumb story above), realised it was the furthest away from the hotel area then walked back. A lot of walking back and forth under the hot sun. 

According to a board on site, Hierapolis was said to be founded by one of the sucessors of Alexander the Great, to pass into the hands of the kings in Pergamon in 188 BC. The city was noted for its textiles, in particularly wool. In Hellenistic times, the thermal springs at Hierapolis made the city a popular spa. It was ceded to Rome in 133 BC along with the rest of the Pergamene kingdom. The city flourished and reached its peak in 2nd-3rd AD. In AD 60, the city was destroyed but rebuilt after. In the 6th century, Hierapolis fell into declined and the city was partially submerged by water and deposits of travertine. 

The well-preserved Roman Theatre, was built in stages by emperors Hadrian and Septimius Severus could seat more than 12,000 spectators.