Pamukkale & Hierapolis, Turkiye

The ancient city of Hierapolis was very impressive and made even more magical by the white travertines cascading down the hill which gave it the name Pamukkale meaning “cotton castle” in Turkish. The city dates back to the iron age and has drawn people in for it’s 36 C healing waters (which created the travertines). The city was destroyed several times by earthquakes and was subsequently rebuilt and added upon by the Lycians, Persians, Greeks and Romans. In the 7th century AD, there were so many earthquakes that they gave up rebuilding it and eventually abandoned the city by the mid 1300s.

Aside from the usual impressive Greek and Roman buildings such as gates, baths, temples, ampitheatre, etc., this city has a few unique features: the Plutoniom, the Ancient bath, St. Philip Martyrium, the mineral waters and the travertines.

It also has several baths and fountains; baths at the entrance of the city for visitors to clean themselves before being allowed in, at least 3 separate bath houses within the city, and 2 nymphiums (decorated, public fountains). The recreation photos of these structures look like they would have been really spectacular.

If you are interested in learning more about the history and seeing some of the reconstructions, this seems to be the best video that I found here.

Ampitheatre

The theatre was one of the most impressive that we’ve seen!

The Plutonion

A temple to Pluto which houses a cave with a passage to the underworld. Priests would bring cows into the cave as a sacrifice and they would die from the volcanic gases being emitted.

Variety of Photos of Hierapolis ruins

Antique Bath (Cleopatra’s Pool)

There is not actually any evidence that Cleopatra visited Hierapolis, but the name and myth has stuck. This pool was created by a massive earthquake in the 7th Century that created a hole and the pillars from the nearby Temple of Apollo fell into the hole. The thermal waters flowed into the hole creating a pool. They now charge you extra (12 euros) to swim in the pool, but we couldn’t resist! The water is 36C and contains bicarbonate, sulphate, carbon dioxide and some metals (the ‘healing’ properties the area is famous for). We spent a couple of hours soaking in the pool and swimming (and climbing) over the ancient pillars in the pool.

Travertines

The travertines are/were created by the mineral-rich warm water flowing down the hill. It makes for a beautiful site with white deposits holding blue water. We went on a Sunday and it was very crowded during most of the day with tons of kids playing in the shallow pools. But R and K walked back home via the travertines and got some great sunset views.

St. Philip Martyrium

There was another section of the ancient city that we didn’t visit – St. Philip Martyrium. St. Philip came to Hierapolis in the 5th century to spread Chrisitanity. He was killed by the Romans and crucified upside down. An octagonal church was built around where he was buried, which was subsequently destroyed by earthquakes. This section of the city was a little bit further up the hill and out of the way so we decided to skip it.