We Swam in Cleopatra’s Pools!

It was hot and dry and lots of graves.  Jenna loved it!

Yes, today we were off to Pamukkale, which is a short 30 minute bus ride north of Denizli.  So back to the bus stop for the mini bus to Pamukkale where we got dropped off at the “terrace” which we found out is the upper entrance way.  We got to check out some crazy old tombs that were between 200 BC and into the 3^rd century.  Amazing how you can still read the writing, well.... you can see some kind of Greek or Roman letters but who know what they say.  Many graves were toppled probably by grave robbers but many are intact and quite a few are put back together.  I went on a bit of a photo shoot while Jenna was ducking from shade patch to shade patch.  It was cooking in the sun but tolerable in the shade with a nice breeze blowing.  It helped that we got going a little earlier today!

Incredible the 2000+ year old graves and you can still read the inscriptions.

On through the graves and crypts where I was trying to get the kids to lay down so I could get a picture but there was no way that was happening.  I thought I could get Alyssa to crawl into one but she didn’t want to get her white shirt dirty! 

Around the corner and we saw the crazy pools well known in Pamukkale.   It is Turkey’s foremost mineral-bath spa where hot calcium-laden waters spring from the earth and cascade over a cliff right above the town.  As the water cools, they form dramatic travertines of hard, brilliantly white calcium that form pools.  It has been a spa since the Romans built the spa city of Hierapolis around a sacred warm-water spring.  The Antique Pool is still there which is where Cleopatra swam and we did the touristy thing and jumped in.  We didn’t see Cleopatra there but there were a couple of scantily clad Russian women that were walking all around the pools in a quasi photo shoot!  It was pretty funny watching the posing and then you see the guy shooting with his phone!  We all had a pretty good laugh.  It was pretty cool as you slide over 2000 year old pillars in the water in the 23 degree water.  It wasn’t exactly refreshing but it was cooler than the air temp so everyone was happy.

Imagine the massive puzzle project trying to put this back together!

I also hiked up above the pools to this amphitheatre that was completely stunning.  The majority of the seats seem in pretty good shape and they have reconstructed most of the stage area.  As you look past the stage area there is a huge field of partially constructed pieces all over the place.  What a crazy puzzle that would be trying to put multiple tonnes of marble back together again as they uncover all the pieces.  There are remnants everywhere you look.  You can see with much of the stage they had to make new pieces where the old pieces were either lost or unsalvageable.  They did an incredible job and have a sign showing what it looked like in 1958, then in 2005 to 2007 they did most of the reconstruction of the stage until 2013 where it is how it looks now.

The theatre was incredible. Some of the missing or non-salvageable pieces are replaced with new ones.

On our way down to the city of Pamukkale, we were

The town of Pamukkale behind.

able to walk down through the pools.  At first it was pretty crazy with people as there were a tonne of tour buses up top but as you work your way down the crowd thins out and we had some time to take photos and I thought I had the photo of a lifetime with this Muslim woman soaking her feet in a pool all by herself.  I took the shot and once we got home I downloaded it thinking, Banff Photo Contest here I come.... well, it’s definitely not going to win any awards and I’ve got way better pictures of my kids around the cool formations.

We had a quick walk through the city and I think it would be worth staying in Pamukkale if any of you ever decide to come check it out.  They have lights on the pools and cliffs so in the evening you could be having dinner in one of the restaurants with this stunning view of everything.  Staying in Denizli worked really well for us too but you’d get to see everything in the mellow times without the crazy tour buses around.  All in all, a great day and sure glad we stopped to check them out... Thanks Geoff for the tip.

The walk down around the shallow pools.

Crazy formations from the calcium rich water.