It had couch lining all three sides with low coffee tables. The staff (the some person who opened the door for us last night) came to ask what we would like for breakfast. It was like a two courses breakfast. First, he brought a vegetarian plate (that's what I thought). It had cheese, vegetable and some fruits. They also offered a bread basket. For the second course, we had a choice of hot cooked eggs; fried eggs, omelette and scramble eggs.
I had a scramble eggs...in a pan and Turkish tea. It was really yummy and fulfilling. While we were devouring our breakfast, the staff came to ask us to fill in a form and we realized that because we came in so late last night, we didn't officially check in...oops. We were picked up at around 9am. I was expecting a small van like we had in Cappadocia but, it wasn't going to be nice and small as what we had. We ended up in a big tour bus. There were quite a few people on the bus already and we were not done with picking up people. From our hotel, we stopped at the main street of Selcuk to wait for a few more people. Looking around, we could see quite a few stalks flying around. Then, someone pointed out that they were nesting on top of electricity post as well as some ancient ruins.
I think for people who live in a big city, seeing wildlife right in a city, is quite special. We learned from the guide later that the name of this town, Selcuk, actually came from these stalks. After a long time going around town picking up travelers, we finally were on our way. We were informed that we had a long distance ride ahead. So, my friend and I settled down and got some more rest. We were awaken about half way to Pamukkale. The bus stopped at gas station for everyone to stretch and use restroom. Not only that we were not there yet, the worst thing was that it was raining now. Our hearts just dropped as now the sky was grey and we knew that the rain wouldn't stop anytime soon. After 10-15 mins rest, we continued on. We reached Pamukkale around noon and so, we headed to restaurant for lunch first. Nothing much to say except it was so very tourist food, buffet style. The only good thing was the range of food selection. We didn't stop for long. It was still raining pretty hard as well as cold and windy when we reach Pamukkale. Nothing could be worst than this. The guide took us inside.
I believe we came in from the South side, passed the Town Walls. We found some shady place to escape from rain for guide to explain to us about the place. He didn't want to keep us there for long because of the weather and everyone wanted to do their own thing. Where we stopped, we could see an ancient Theatre. This was the Greco-Roman and Byzantine city of Hierapolis. It was built on top of the 'Cotton Castle', that's what Pamukkale means. Pamukkale and this Hierapolis city are also listed as UNESCO World Heritage site since 1988. The guide explained to us that Pamukkale offered several things to see. We could check out the Sinter Terraces for the Pamukkale famous view, bath in natural spring or check out the ancient site. Well, our main goal was to see the Cotton Castle so, our initial plan was to see the most of the famous white terrace then, decided later about what else to do. So, after we separated from the group, we headed to the terraces. It would have been super gorgeous if it was sunny. One thing that we noticed was that it wasn't all white like in the pictures. We knew that the while terraces were made of travertines. But, because these are natural spring, it has a mixture of not only one kind of mineral. Some part of the terraces were actually brown, rather dirty looking. However, its pattern could still have some charms.
We had to basically brave the weather to take these pictures. It was raining and the wind made it even worse. We were cold and wet. At the same time, we tried to carry umbrella in one hand and and camera on the other. We didn't want to get any more wet but, we also faced a dilemma; protect ourselves or protect the camera. We didn't want to get sick but then, didn't want to damage the camera either. At the end, I think we tried our best to balance between not getting our head wet and keeping the camera safe as well. Not an easy task considering the wind. We did took a few more pictures before we gave up.
We decided to have a time off. We remembered that the guide said there are cafe and fast food area at the natural spring. So, we thought that a cup of hot tea would be good for us. The natural spring was called the Cleopatra's pool. The pool there is at 36-57c. Well, seemed like almost everyone was thinking the same. It was super crowded with both bather and those who just wanted to escape from the weather. Thought it was an open-air area, it was pretty warm with exception from when the wind blew. With some difficulty, we found a place to sit. We each had a cup of tea and tried to stay warm. I didn't want to move or do anything at all. In fact, I was kind of miserable, wet and cold. After I had warmed up, I managed to have a peek at the hot spring. The water was blue and crystal clear.
There were quite a few people dipping in the pool. Honestly, it made me think of boiled lobster because these Westerner turned pink in the warm water. It must have been very comfortable, dipping in warm water in a cold weather. Then again, it would be like a torture to get out of wather in this weather. After certain amount of time waiting with non-stop rain, we started to think that we were wasting our time and opportunity here. We might not be coming here again, maybe in the entire lifetime. So we decided to once again brave the rain, cold and wind to see more of the Cotton Castle. We walked around the area a bit and stopped to take photography. The Terrace is free for visitors to go in and take a dip. I would love to walk in there but, with this weather as well as the fact that I would need to take off my shoes & socks, changed my mind. So, I decided against it. All I did was testing the water with my hand. It was very cold. But there were quite a few people who were not afraid of the cold.
We tried to take pictures as many as we could. Even though the weather made the whole place look greyish and not as pretty as postcard pictures, it was still amazing to see. As mentioned earlier that not all the terraces were white. There were even some craters with blue water. That was pretty.
Once we were satisfied with all the pictures we got and already soaking wet, we headed out for the bus. I just couldn't wait to get on the warm dry bus. One strange thing though, as we were walking out, we passed a group of school kids. They probably have never seen Asian people before because many of them stopped and took pictures of us. If it was in a normal sunny weather, I would get them a good shot. However, I was wet and miserable so, all I did was picking up speed and walking away as quickly as I can. Our guide was at the exit and directed us to the bus. We were exhausted so, once on the bus, we tried to get as comfortable as we could. When the bus started rolling out, we took a nap. I woke up when we were about to reach the same gas station as the one we stopped before. Immediatly, I was so annoyed. Nothing to do with the bus or other tourists but because IT WAS SUNNY!!! The sun shone like it the horrible rain never happened. Why couldn't it come earlier!! This was probably the only disappointed part of our trip. Once got back to our hotel, we changed to dry cloth. Since our hotel couldn't provide dinner, once we had enough rest, we went out to explore the town. Our hotel was only a few blocks off the main street of Selcuk (Ataturk Caddegi).
So, we walked to the main streets and crossed to the other side which was like a walking street with souvenir shops, carpet shops (of course) and restaurants. It was very convenient actually.
To get to the restaurants, we had to pass a few of the carpet store which , as usual, were welcoming, inviting and begging us to go in. We just kept walking quickly pass them. Similar to the carpet shops, staff of the restaurants also did the same. We could hardly looking at the menu of the selection of food without any of them pouncing at us. At the end, we stopped at one of the very local and not very fancy looking restaurant, Firuze restaurant. Looking inside of these restaurant, we could see some local families having meal inside. We took that as a sign that this restaurant probably would have an authentic food.
We ordered grilled eggplant with tomato sauce for appetizer and each of us ordered our own dish. I had lamb kebab that day. The food was very authentic as expected. The eggplant and kebab were very tasty.
By the time we finished our dinner, it was getting quite chilli plus my shoes was still quite wet. So, we just returned to our hotel and called it a night.
To be continue...
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| Ref: http://www.planetware.com/map/pamukkale-map-tr-pam.htm |
To be continue...
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