The Cube

One of the reasons why I selected Bodrum over other cities or towns by the Aegean Coast is because of the distance from Greece. This made a great day trip from Bodrum, a ferry ride of about 30 minutes and landed in Kos. 

One of the things I googled when tried to search for this day trip was how early in advance do I need to get the ferry ticket. If you are wondering of the same, I made this trip on 6th October 2022 and walked into Bodrum Feribot a day before and got a return ferry ticket on the spot, TL553. Ferry will depart Bodrum at 9:30am and return at 5:30pm the same day. I was told to be there 30 minutes before departure for customs check. Please remember to bring along your passport, it is an international border after all.

Custom check was fussed free. Once I got on Fahri Kaptan-5 and seated, one of the staffs came over to asked if I have been to Kos. I was handed a 'Discover Kos in a day' booklet on what I can do. I was told to return to passport control by 4:45pm to make the 5:30pm ferry. 

I attempted to do the Kos Downtown for Historical Path which was also included in the booklet. Attempted because a couple of the stops were missed possibly because I couldn't find them or I wasn't sure I was there. 

It was built at the beginning of 14th century A.D. by the Knights of St. John, using material from ancient sites.

Great view of the Government House with its white washed walls. 

Second in the list is 2. Hospitaller House of Count Francesco that I couldn't find. It was built by the Count of Kos and is the only secular building of the Knights period in Kos. Since I couldn't locate the building, I moved on to the third attraction. 

Near to the Castle of Neratzia is this age-old plane tree. According to legend, this was where Hippocrates, the father of medicine, sat under while teaching his students. However, this tree isn't the original tree based on age, but possibly could be a descendent of the original tree. 

Just behind the plane tree of Hippocrates is the Gazi Hassan Pasha Mosque (or the Haggi Hassan). It is said that this mosque boasts one of the most stunning minarets in the Dodecaneses. However, on my visit, the minaret was covered with scaffoldings. 

Bodrum, the modern name for the ancient Dorian city of Halicarnassus was the first Turkish town to experience a tourist boom. It is a port city in Mugla Province, southwestern Turkey at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Its major sight being the 15th century Castle of St Peter. now a museum of nautical archaeology. 

Didn't expect that bus tickets were popular on the Bodrum-Pamukkale route. I returned to the travel shop where I was dropped off initially to get a bus ticket to Pamukkale. I wanted a morning bus and got a ticket from Ben Turizm, departing from 10am, TL 150. The person who sold me the ticket initially gave me seat 33, then corrected it to seat 13. I ended up at seat 2, right at the front. 

There was no bus from Pamukkale itself, but they told me that they have private shuttle to the Denizle bus station. No private shuttle for me but they flagged down a minibus (dolmus), spoke and paid the driver. I don't know how much was the actual cost but this website mentioned TL5. I was briefed to go up to the counter and checked the platform number.

On reaching Bodrum, the bus stopped at the bus terminal and I walked to the accommodation that I booked. I spent 2 nights in Bodrum and mostly only around Bodrum City Center.

Castle of St Peter is Bodrum's most distinctive landmark from 1406 by the Knights of St Joh. Its five towers represented the languages of its formidable inhabitants. The castle passed hand to the Ottoman in 1523, damaged during World War I, used to store artifcacts and finally a musuem now. 

As it was the main sight in Bodrum, I paid the entrance fee (TL150) for visitation. I spent at least a good hour exploring the castle, and see the displayed treasures along the way. 

The other attraction that caught my eye were windmills. These stone windmills overlook Bodrum peninsula were used from the 18th century till the 70s. There are a total of 7 windmills but only 2 are in  a better conditio comparatively. They sit on a hill that separates Bodrum and Gumbet so it is also a great location for panaroma views. 

The other thing I did a lot in Bodrum was strolling along the Bodrum Marina. There were a lot of shops to keep one occupy, or it was comfortable enough to sit down and stare at the sea. 

There were a lot of restaurants overlooking the sea which I didn't not try. A staff from one of the restaurants stopped me on my way to get me to eat at the restaurant he worked at. He stopped me at my tracks whenever I walked passed a couple more times after as well. Haha.  I was at a clear disadvantage because I am terrible for recognising face. Plus, I stood out like a sore thumb as I did not meet any oriental tourist when I was there. 

I did a day trip away from Bodrum on one of my days in Bodrum. 

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. 

Also an early day for me on day 3 because I want to see the hot air balloons again! Early but not early enough to go on a hike to the mountains, I just went up to the hotel terrace. 

I stayed till sun rise of course, then went back to get a nap before waking up for breakfast. 

Actually I can't tell if I was on Red Valley or Rose Valley and for some unknown reason I kept on reading Google Maps wrongly that day so I going around for a bit. Haha. Yes - another reason as to how I ended up clocking many steps. 

Red Valley gets it's name from the red-coloured rock found in the area. Both valleys are so named due to the colour of the hues when the sun hits on the rock at various times of the day. I picked these 2 valleys on my last day in Cappadocia mostly due to their distance from Göreme. I reached Rose Valley area by walking, it was an easy walk of about an hour. 

On reaching the area, prior to the start of start of Rose Valley trail, I met a fellow traveller. She was doing her Masters in sculpture in Florence. At the time when I met her, she was with an ATV driver and I thought she engaged an ATV driver/guide for the day. After she bid her 'guide' goodbye and walked away on her own, we ended up going around the valleys together for a while. 

It was then that I found out she went into a shop asking for price to rent an ATV and was offered a test ride/guide for the day. She wasn't comfortable to accept a free ATV ride/guide for the day so she rejected his offer. Unfortunately she was with me when we were going around the valley as I kept on missing the turn into the right trail. She had a prior arrangement to meet a friend to do an ATV tour and left, then only I found the right turn! Oops.

Well I did get a lot of nice view of the valleys though :) 

I did find the trail eventually though. I did feel perplexed as to why I can't locate the trail because I had Google Maps loaded and there were markers to indicate the trails. 

Good thing I had some snacks with me so I had a great lunch view of this. 

This was near to Hacli Church (Haçlı Kilise) at Red Valley (so I know I was at the right track). It is a cave church and has a stone cross on the ceiling plus beautifully painted apse. 

The viewpoint near this church was splendid. 

I still have a few hours before taking my night bus to Pamukkale by the time I got off the trail. So I strolled back to Göreme with rest in shade in between. Another ATV guide approached me if I want a tour during one of my 'rest' and asked if I was ok. I had to sheepishly owned up that I was taking a break for the scorching heat. 

Balance of the day was spent wandering around Göreme, had dinner and refreshing myself at the hotel before an overnight bus ride. The kind staffs at the hotel even offered me bathroom to shower when I asked if I can use the toilet. Definitely a godsend offer especially after I was out the whole day and hiking under the hot sun.