Pammukale & Hierapolis

Seeing as my cousin were the only ones in the tour on this particularday, we had the tour guide take us up, tell us the story, and then leave us there for the remainder of the day.  This was much more preferable to the usual touristic route where only two hours of free time is allotted.  We could have stayed there another two full days aside from the full day that we did stay and we surely would not have gotten bored!

Pammukale is famous for its white shelves, which, caused by calcium deposits, make the hill look like it is covered in snow and ice. The actual climate couldn't have been further from this as a nearly intolerable heat struck us in our tour.

Before heading to the ruined city of Hierapolis, we visited the ancient springs.  These are still in use as swimming pools; very, very expensive ones.  Here, while taking a photo, I put my hand on a tree and had the misfortune of getting sap on my hand.  Needless to say, I spent the next half an hour in the bathroom, trying to wash it off - unsuccessfully.

Then, with sap on hand, we walked about the plateau of green on top of the hill.  There were palm trees, flowers, and fountains, all in stark contrast to what looked like the snow covered hill.  

We then made our way to the remains of Hierapolis and the largest found Necropolis in the world (necropolis; lit. city of the dead, cemetery).  It had tombs of all sizes and on many of them inscriptions in latin could still be seen.  One thing that was majority disappointing was that when looking inside the tombs, one could see beer cans and pop bottles. Some stupid kids were using the tombs as garbage cans.  

We then passed through the city to a field that looked like it was taken straight out of Gladiator (the scene at the beginning very beginning) on our way to the theatre.  

Il Teatro was breathtaking.  For the first time in my life, I was really blown away.  It was everything: the 

enormity, the view, how well it was preserved.. The next few hours that we spent there were incredibly serene.  To this day, it remains one of my favourite locations because it was ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING.

Photo: If you look closely, you can see my cousin.

And so we watched the sunset there and then climbed down the shelves, which at this point looked like a combination between a skii hill and the surface of the moon, until we reached our nice little hotel.