Sunday, October 30, 2011

Pamukkale

No we didn't take a trip to Hawaii.

Instead we traveled to one of the many beautiful places that exist right here in the country we have called home for over a year now. We realized that the small number of places we have seen in Turkey is disappointingly low. We don't plan on spending our whole lives here (much to the dismay of some friends) so we have made a vow to take quick trips to places like "The Cotton Castle."

Looks like a snowy hillside.


Pamukkale is a Unesco World Heritage site located in the South Western region of Turkey that is interesting both historically and geologically. Geologically speaking the city is the home to some natural mineral springs that have left year and years of carbonate mineral deposits on the hillside giving the visual effect of a snowy slope. As you begin to walk up the slope you pass many little travertines, or terraced pools, filled with increasingly warmer water until you get to the top where you reach the antique pool where you can swim amongst some ancient columns and rocks tossed in for authenticity.

Here we are lounging in the Antique Pool, sunning ourselves like turtles on the rocks.
This site was also home to the ancient city of Hierapolis. The excavation that happened here has been extensive and the amount of ruins that you can now walk through is impressive. It was great to walk around and get a real sense of how big this city was. Not knowing too much about the actual history of the city I was left just marveling at the thought of how these building were built and the amount of early engineering that happened here.
Hierapolis's main street. The  2m of mineral deposits had to be removed with a jack hammer during the excavation.


All in all we had a lovely day exploring one of the world's great places to visit. Top it off with some laughs and genuine hospitality and it was a truly Turkish experience.
There are more photos available online here.
P.S. Can someone explain the BCE thing. I know it has to do with taking Christ out of the terminology but either this change happened after my schoolin' or my schoolin' was not interested in taking Christ out of the picture but I have a hard time believing Mr. Boyle would leave me hanging like that.

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3 comments:

  1. cwrobelOctober 31, 2011 at 8:27 AM

    BCE stands for Before Common Era. The other half AD is replaced with CE for Common Era or current era. It just takes christ out of the title so its more sensitive to non-christians so the idea of dates is more neutral per se. It has been going around for a while, more prevalent where there is less of a christian population(ie Turkey), where the culture is predominately christian they are both still used with BC being used more.
    The two methods are numerically equivalent, just a more politically correct name.

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  2. Sam goldsmithOctober 31, 2011 at 11:20 AM

    Sounds like you had a great time! Just so you know, though, the picture of you in the antique pool didn't come out. And what cwrobel said about BCE is how I understand it too.

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  3. ErinOctober 31, 2011 at 11:47 AM

    Chris you sound like an Encyclopedia. Is that what a DOCTOR sounds like?

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