Pamukkale & Ephesus - Turkey

Pammukkale means 'cotton castle' in Turkish.  Thermal waters loaded with calcium carbonate exit the earth's core and create terraced limestone pools.  The water seems endless and flows over the terraced pools. 

We saw this place in one of our travel videos and Noah expressed a keen interest in dipping his toes in the warm water so here we are.  We rented a car in Kalkan and made the three hour drive and we were not disappointed.  We checked into a small family owned hotel, named the Venus Hotel.  It was a real find (thanks to Trip advisor) and their family chef prepared some of the best meals we've enjoyed in Turkey. Lentil soup and chicken shish were our favourite.

The first day, we got up early and spent the morning up on the hill once called Hierapolis.   We waded in bare feet into the thermal waters and watched the steam rise up, enjoying the scenery. A fairly large lady was sitting on the edge of one of the rushing waterways when she slipped and fell in with all her clothes on and camera.  She struggled but the rushing water and smooth surfaces had her wedged in the water channel.  The guards were all laughing as my wonderful husband rushed over to help her up.

Our next stop was the Ancient Bath or Cleopatra’s Bath. This is a natural thermal water pool for swimming with roman columns underneath your feet. You can swim around in the pool while stepping on ancient ruins from 2,000 years ago. This was the highlight of our day and well worth the drive to Pammukale.

Ephesus – A further 2 hour drive west took us to the town of Selcuk where we stayed for 2 nights to visit the Roman ruins of Ephesus. When we arrived one of the “guides” told us that we would have to walk up and then walk back down but he could drive us to the starting point which would shave 2 hours off our walk. In order to do this we had to agree to go to the government operated carpet weaving school. We explained that we weren’t interested in buying anything and he said that was ok. No obligation. We agreed as this was something we had hoped to see anyway.

So we headed off to the school (just a few minutes from the entrance). We saw wool and silk carpets being weaved and the women’s fingers moved at an incredibly fast speed. They then took us over to the silk worm processing area and we watched them spin fine silk threads from an unraveling silk worm. 
Of course the all too familiar “now we will take you to the showroom” followed. We looked at many examples of various carpets, had some great tea but left without buying anything. Finally we headed on to the site of Ephesus.

You could tell we were getting a little “over” the roman ruins by the speed at which we walked through the ancient town. It is very impressive with a large amphitheatre and temples but once you see Pompeii and Paestum it is less impressive until we rounded the corner to see the Celsus Library. It is a very large and beautifully carved structure. You could visualize philosophers and statesman sitting on the steps contemplating astronomy and other such important ideas. 

We did get a kick out of the communal toilets where many a roman (and I mean 40 at a time) would take care of their daily business while chatting with their neighbors.  A small stage in the middle of the toilet square housed a group of musicians whose main objective was to drown out the sounds of their 'audience'.    As we were about to leave we were surprised when the drums started to beat and we could see a play with actors dressed in Roman costumes start to begin. The Emperor and his Queen watched as the gladiators performed a fight for their approval.

As the victorious gladiator was about to deliver his final assault on his opponent he looked in the audience and picked Noah out to come up and finish it off. He handed Noah his dagger and they waited for the thumbs up or down from the Emperor. Luckily it was thumbs up and Noah spared the gladiator.  

We had a bit of extra time and sunlight so we jumped in the rental car and drove the windy road up the mountain that overlooks Ephesus / Selcuk to visit Maryamam (Mary’s Sanctuary).  According to predominant Christian tradition, Mary was brought to Ephesus by the Apostle John after the Resurrection of Christ and lived out her days there.

This has generally been confirmed through scripture quotes and various Pope visits. The energy at this site is very special. It is very deeply calming and centering. It also has a sacred spring near her house.  The peaceful site is sacred to both Christians and Muslims, and is visited by many tourists and pilgrims.  The entire grounds is wonderfully shady and cool, and we happened to visit when there were relatively few other groups around, so it felt quite relaxed and low key.

We ended our trip to Turkey at a traditional, very modest restaurant with great home made dishes.When we entered the restaurant we felt right at home not just because of the warm welcome but because the waiter was wearing a Vancouver Olympic jacket, hat AND t-shirt ! His cousin who lives there sent it to him for his birthday and he seemed to really like wearing it. We enjoyed a great meal of chicken and lamb shish, grilled kofte (meatballs shaped like hot dogs) ,hummus and pita and grilled veggies. When we finished our meal we started talking to the owner of the restaurant who also owned the carpet store next door and we told him about going to the carpet factory and how hard we found it to tell the difference between original designs that are locally  made carpets and the ones that are mass produced in Asia. He brought us in to his store and gave us a great education on the differences and we ended up buying a small antique carpet to hang on the wall. Great ending to our Turkish adventure ! Tomorrow we drive to Ismir to fly to Athens – Greece !

Brief summary of our Turkish encounters

Istanbul to Anadolu Kavagi (Black Sea) to Kayseri to Cappadocia to Kalkan to OluDeniz to Pamukkale to Ephesus to Izmir to Istanbul

2,800km 41 hours

Best experiences:  Turkish people; Ballooning in Cappadocia; Hookah in Istanbul; swimming in the Blue Lagoon; Hagia Sophia; bathing in thermal pools of Pamukkale; shopping at the Grand Bazaar; belly dancing anywhere; caving in Cappadocia & Goreme, and; Turkish bath in Istanbul.

Best accommodation: Cave house in Cappadocia for its ambiance; Hotel Venus in Pamukkale for its food; Istanbul apartment for its location, and; Kalkan for its view.

Best meals:  Gozleme pancakes and kebabs in Istanbul; Nazar Borek in Goreme and everything at the Hotel Venus in Pamukkale but especially the lentil soup.

Best desert: Backlava and honey yogurt

Bested by an animal: Dodging the feces of wild dogs and cats everywhere.

Best Mosque: Blue Mosque and the Call to Prayer everywhere

Best repeated new phrase: “Do you want some wine…..too bad…..all gone!” and “Excuse me, are you lost? Can I help?”

Best city: Istanbul

Best beaches: Blue Lagoon