Pammukale/Hierapolis/Aphrodisias – Day 13

(Monday, July 5)

Barbara made a huge breakfast for us. While we were out the door early for our group of seven (which includes at least two late sleepers), we weren’t out the door by 6am, which was my goal for the long day trip. Rob drove the entire day, mostly on local roads as opposed to autoroutes….he had to deal with foreign traffic lights/signs and deranged bus drivers all while driving a minivan with a sloppy manual transmission, so I know it wasn’t a vacation for him.

We got to Pamukkale/Hierapolis sometime around noon; I was feeling quite carsick (not the parasitic stomach issue my dad had the day before, thankfully) by the time we had parked the car — practically the only non tour bus/taxi in the parking lot! The site is a combined natural wonder and ancient city.

In the US, once you’ve paid admission to a National park, you are generally handed a guide map and expect that the “attractions” will be well marked. This is not the case in Turkey. You either need to buy a book, hire a guide, or stumble around clueless. We chose to stumble around clueless. With seven people all wanting to see different things, this presents quite a challenge.

I was annoyed by an American (identity established by accent and dress) father quizzing his children. “This is Hierapolis. What does Polis mean?” No answer from the kids, so I volunteered, loudly and snidely, “City!” (Mom chuckled at my brazen interruption in the lesson.)

We stumble across the “travertines” — Pamukkale means “Cotton Castle”. From far off, we could hear a constant whistle blowing. When we finally reached it, we could see, from the people in the travertines, that the rule was “no shoes”, yet clueless folks kept entering the area with shoes on, and the poor guard had to keep blowing his whistle and yell “No Shoes” in multiple languages until the clueless became clued in.

After traipsing around in barefeet in the sharp-edged pools of the travertines, we headed off down the path — the bus tourists don’t have time to waste, so we had the place to ourselves. The modern landscaping was absolutely gorgeous and truly underappreciated. We stopped at a little cafe where the music was blaring and the shopkeeper was reading a paper at a table under the trees — slow business. We got some drinks there before heading on towards the north gate of Hierapolis.

I hate to admit it, but Camille fell apart. She cried and cried and cried. I know she was hot (I TOLD her not to wear jeans!), but I’m sure there was more to it than that (puberty?). We walked on Roman roads. We visited such amazing Roman ruins and we were practically alone. I think I if I visit Italy or Greece now I will truly be disappointed, as we had this huge city all to ourselves. We could touch, sit and climb Roman columns, buildings, etc. I hope that Camille, despite her crankiness, realizes that she had an amazing opportunity and can carry it with her.

We made our way back to the Antique Pool, where I had thought I wanted to swim amongst ancient columns. The second we walked in, I was overwhelmed. Too many tourists, too much smoking, too much noise, too much too much. The girls, Rob and Suze did swim, but the pool was hot (97-99F I think) and suprememly crowded. Not the experience I was hoping for. My mom found a very quiet, pleasant gozleme (cheese crepe) place for me and her, and that made the stop bearable. Thanks, mom.

After the swimmers were done swimming and eating (Camille ended up with a meat sandwich and traded for my mom’s leftover gozleme — thanks again, mom), we headed out. My dad, Suze and I wandered around looking for Plutonium, but never found it (like I said, signage is poor). We made our way up to the top of the theater, where we met up with Rob and the girls. Camille said the Hierapolis theater was nicer than the one at Orange in France.

We were hot and tired when we made our way back to the van. When we opened the doors, the parking ticket flew out. The bus drivers told us not to worry. As we left the lot, the attendant quickly pulled up our van’s photo and pinpointed our entry time. Our movements here are being tracked.

We tried to get to Aphrodisias, but with the mountains and road construction, we got there far too late in the day to enter the site. I suppose that’s okay, given that the majority of us were too exhausted to tour any more anyway.

Rob pulled into a gas station and asked for 30 liters of gas, but only got 30 liras ($20 dollars) worth of gas (Gas is over 3 lira a gallon here). It was enough to get us home, thankfully. For me shower and bed once home; the others? I don’t know. I didn’t care about anything more than a shower and sleep.

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