Turkey, Pamukkale

In Pamukkale we camped on the drive way of one of the many hotels in town. At this friendly family run place we met our first co-overlanders. A couple from Norway pulled in just ten minutes after us on this tiny drive way and we all managed to squeeze in to put our roof tents up. We had a nice evening with some home cooked Turkish food and exchanged travel experiences. It turned out that the norweigan couple left around the same time and gone pretty much the same route as us. We had followed each others footsteps with just a couple of days in between! Their final goal is south Africa however, so our paths will soon split…

The next day we went to the hot springs of Pamukkale and the ancient Roman spa town, Hierapolis. The hot springs are very rich in calcium and have been believed to have healing properties already in the Roman times. Unfortunately this attractive tourist spot has been exploited a bit too much in the 80´s and 90´s and today the natural springs are closed off for bathing in order to restore them. (They have even demolished a row of hotels on the edge of the cliffs of Pamukkale for the same reason.)

The fascinating landscape of Pamukkale´s hot springs. /Pentax

Richard and Oliver and a great view. /Pentax

You can however dip your feet and, in the children´s case, your head in man made pools containing the same healthy water. And explore the remains of Hierapolis. Which is exactly what we did for half the day but we could easily have spent another couple of hours there. We were very lucky with the weather and these pools were probably one of the highlights of the trip so far, especially for Tuvalie, Luka, Oliver and Tanja! But it was time to move on…

Trying to catch frogspawn. /Pentax

Luka and Tanja happy in 26 degree warm water. /Pentax