The Ham Nomads

26 May 2015. <TR> Pamukkale, Denizli —

Today we went into the Pamukkale and Hieropolis sites.

Pamukkale. Wow. You go into the site, and are told that while you are on the white travertine area it's all barefoot. This is to protect the site itself — although we are reasonably informed that any damage done by tourists, within reason, rights itself in very short time, as the formations are continually being renewed. You feel as if you are walking into a snowfield, but the sight of people of all ages in their swimsuits somewhat contradicts this impression. Really, it's much like a day out at at a water park. People of all ages lying down or splashing around in the chalky pools, teenage girls practicing at being photographic models in their bikinis, lots of what appeared to be school groups out for the day. And the whole thing being policed by officials who use blasts from their whistles to bring any miscreants to order.

The flow of water is controlled by site management. Many of the travertine pools are our of bounds for the moment, as the water has been diverted to other parts of the complex, and so these pools have dried out and are particularly vulnerable. When we went up the site, the lower part as we walked up was flowing with water; when we were leaving the site, this section was now quite dry, the water having been diverted elsewhere. Must say that after walking over the hard, rocky, uneven travertine for a couple of hours, our feet were crying our for respite!

But in between our two stints on the travertine, we visited Hierapolis. The city was founded in the 2nd century BC by Eumenes II, king of Pergamon, who we have already met at the Pergamon site. It was a thriving city, but was subject to a number of earthquakes (as have most cities in this region), the most severe of which occurred in 60 AD, during the reign of Nero. Interestingly, two of the most important Graeco-Roman gods here were Poseidon/Neptune, who we most know as the god of the sea, but who was also the god of earthquakes, and Hades/Pluto, the god of the underworld, possibly due to the various gases and water-borne minerals that emanate here from his realm.

Hierapolis is a colossal ruin, and very little has been reconstructed. Nevertheless, is is a fascinating place to wander. The extensive necropolis, for example, has in part been invaded by the travertine formations of Pamukkale, creating some unearthly scenery. The ancient theatre is in a remarkably good state of preservation, and much of the skena (stage area) is still intact. Although it looks Greek in form, it is in fact a Roman theatre, construction beginning under the reign of Hadrian in the first hsalf of the second century. Its reconstruction was undertaken from 1957 by a team of Italian archaeologists under the direction of Professor Paolo Verzone.

Anyway, after wandering the ruins for a couple of hours, we wandered back through the travertines and down into the village, where we had a late lunch in one of the local restaurants — Suzie had noticed a woman making flat bread which we meant to have as a wrap for our döner kebap — most enjoyable, but must say that nothing yet has beaten the Doner Kebabs Warren regularly bought from the Chinese family on Southbank each Wednesday before choir rehearsal with the Brisbane Chorale!

Did a bit of shopping — found some leather thongs/sandals for Warren's feet, and then went back to the van to relax for the night.

Distance driven — today, nil; to date, 20,898 miles ( 33,632 km )