Henry Griggs Rambling Home Home Photo Gallery Recent Topics Visit to Australia 2002 Sydney house 2002 Circular Quay 2004 Circular Quay 2002 Centrepoint Tower 2004 Oz Birds 2004 Oz Birds 2002 Bridge Climb 2002 Popular Topics Gallbladder removal Photo of the day HP Calculators Linux/Slackware notes Ripping/burning CDROMs Geek Alaska 2003 UK in 2003 Geek Caribbean 2002 Main Topics Anne Anne's Crafts Blog Cats Collecting Commentary Credits Events Films Links Linux Michelle Miscellaneous Me Photo Galleries Photo Of The Day Rachael Site Index Travel Us Want List Work Navigation Site Map Contact Email Me Search Advanced search Related Sites Hampton Road Events Henry's Notes Anne's Site Hampton Roads Aussies Juniper Rowing Club Great Dismal Regatta Virginia Beach Belles Virginia Beach Rowing Club Williamsburg Boat Club

Day 11: Hierapolis, Pamukkale Today was Erika's birthday, so we did birthday things on the bus when we got started. We sang Happy Birthday and handed over all the little presents. Then we got underway. We left Konya and had a long drive to Pamukkale. On the way we stopped for lunch at a special restaurant in a little town whose name I no longer know. Which is a real shame because I would love to go back there and sample the fare at that restaurant again. It was the Mushroom Restaurant, and every dish was mushrooms or contained mushrooms. Even dessert was candied mushrooms. Not everyone tried dessert, but I did and quite enjoyed it. If any reader knows the town and the name of the restaurant, please email me and let me know. Hierapolis Late afternoon, we arrived at Pamukkale. First stop was Hierapolis, an ancient city. The site was probably first settled around 2,000 BC, but the city of Hierapolis was founded in 190 BC by Eumenes, the king of Pergamun. He named it in honour of Hiera, wife of Telephos, legendary founder of Pergamum. Hierapolis was destroyed by severe earthquakes in 17 and 60 AD. Under Emperor Domitian (81 - 96 AD), it was rebuilt with substantial enlargement. It became prosperous during the reign of Emperor Caracalla (188-217 AD), as his tutor, Antipater, came from the city. Emperor Constantine (272 - 337 AD) later made it capital of Phrygia. It remained part of the Roman Empire until 395 AD when it became part of the Byzantine Empire. A thriving Roman textile industry flourished here. Tomb inscriptions mention farmers, shearers, weavers and dyers. Christianity was established early in Hierapolis. St Paul tells in his Epistle to the Colossians, that it was seat of an early Christian church, especially associated with Saint Philip, who was said to have been executed there. The shrine of his martyrdom dates from the early fifth century. This appeared to be a time of extensive rebuilding of the city, including a second restoration of the theatre. During the following two centuries, Hierapolis lost its importance and eventually faded into the dusty ruin we see today. Mustafa drove up the hill to Hierapolis and parked the bus so we could get out. As we were disembarking, the police arrived and angrily bellowed at Mustafa, telling him to move on. He was blocking the road and they were not happy. By the time they got their message through, we were all off and Mustafa drove off to park at the top near the forum where he would pick us up after our walk through the city. Hierapolis was a pretty dusty ruin, dark brown and badly broken up. There seemed to be just left-over arches and blocks and bricks strewn about the bare earth. We were heavily pestered by peddlars, and I eventually broke down and bought a book. Later, I read what I had bought and from then I bought all books offered. The books contain simplified histories of the cities and ruins, with beautiful photographs, usually taken before tourism destroyed the best artifacts. We walked through the cemetery, and then up to the forum where Mustafa was waiting for us with the bus. He drove us to the Pamukkale Motel. We got out, and took our swimming costumes with us, then walked up see the Roman theatre. This was in great shape and very impressive. Then we walked back to the Pamukkale Motel which contains the largest of the hot springs. Pamukkale The name Pamukkale means Cotton Castle in Turkish. It got the name from the beautiful white calcite formations spilling down the hillside, with the water flowing over it. Sadly, tourism ran rampant with this lovely natural site. Motels were built on the very top, and they started to use the water. The water flowing down the hillside slowed to a trickle. The tourists would walk and climb all over the site, and bathe in the pools. But as the water dried up, the white calcium deposits got dirty and when we arrived, they looked black and dirty and dingy. Still impressive, but heavily tarnished. The Turkish Government has recognised that something needs to be done, and keeps promising to stop all tourists from climbing over the site, and promising to raze all the motels at the top so the water can flow freely again. When we were there, the area was pretty well cordoned off, but it didn't stop everyone from walking around. The motels were still there and the water wasn't flowing much. The Sacred Pool Mustafa drove us up to the Pamukkale Motel. We weren't staying there, we came to visit the sacred pool. This is now just the swimming pool in the courtyard of the Motel. The water is hot and effervescent. It's relaxing and is exceptionally welcome at the end of a long dusty walk around Hierapolis. At first, I didn't want to go in. I was tired, still had the last remnants of my flu, and I normally don't like going swimming because the water is always so damned cold. Anne insisted and pushed and pushed for half an hour and finally and persuaded me to stick my feet in the water. Hot water. Okay, I was persuaded. I went back, paid my money for a swim and went in. Once in, I did not want to get out. The water was divine. It wasn't a smoothly tiled swimming pool. No, it was a Roman ruin that happened to be flooded with water. All those white chunks in the water in the photo are large bits of Roman building material. To get around, we clambered over fallen columns and stood on the bases of old statues and slid over wall remnants. That's what made it exciting and interesting. A happy few of us congregated under the spouts where the hot water rushed out and slammed into your shoulders and back, giving the most marvellous massage. After a few minutes of the pummeling from the water, I was limp and sleepy. I didn't want to get out, but eventually, I was dragged out because we had to go find out hotel and check in. I will be back and I will stay for hours under those water spouts. Motel Anne forced me out of the pool when everyone else wanted to get to the hotel. Onto the bus, and a quick drive to the hotel. Wow. It was a huge, new, flashy hotel. Big, bold and brassy. We booked in and dumped our bags. We had lovely rooms. Then we had a quick walk round before dinner. This hotel had swimming pools everywhere - inside, outside, hot pools and cold pools. We had a buffet dinner, and it wasn't wonderful but it was okay. Nothing memorable. The dining room was really busy, absolutely full of people. It was also the first time we had to use the stupid card system to get our meals and drinks. When you check in, you get a temporary card which you use to charge meals and things to the room. This was new and the system still had bugs. It was slow and clumsy to try and do anything with the cards. After dinner, we went out to one of the terraces overlooking the pools and the entertainment, and asked for coffee. No go. The terraces were reserved for drinkers, not coffee drinkers. We had to move to ground level and further from the action before we could get tea or coffee. We settled down as a group and chatted and laughed and had a jolly good time. We had such a good time, with so much laughter, that we disturbed the live entertainment. Yes, we had a jolly time, except Frank. He got extremely irritated with the waiter about using the damned card system. Everything went wrong for him, and he got irritated and the waiter got irritated. Later on, Sebnem arrived with Richard. Sebnem suddenly remembered it was Erika's birthday and rushed away, then rushed back again with cake and candles. We continued our small but raucous party. I was tired and sat back a bit and watched the jollity. It struck me that our group was different to most of the other groups I had seen on the road, at the ruins, in the hotels. Our group laughed lots. Our group had a good time, all the time. Yes, we were a happy group, and with that thought we all went back to our rooms by 9:30. The hotel was organised so that the guests rooms were in separate blocks to the main building. We had a small walk back to our block, but the grounds were beautiful, there was a lovely breeze, and the night was peaceful. There was a great breeze all night long, and this quickly dried all the clothes we washed. Not everyone headed off to bed at 9:30. Richard and Sebnem stayed behind. After we left, the entertainment picked up. Folk dancing. With audience particpation. This apparently got Richard going and he joined in the dancing. And did very well, if rumour was right. We heard about his exploits next morning, and he was promptly nominated for the award for fostering Turkish-Australian relations.