It's about midnight on Thursday night; we're in Eğirdir (in Turkish, do NOT pronounce the g-smiley face; instead, it's soft, so the town we're in is pronounced 'Ey-er-deer'), a small town in southeast Anatolia. We left Pamukkale this morning, so I'll start with our time there.
Pamukkale means 'cotton castle' in Turkish, a reference to the billowing white cliffs that dominate the town. I had heard of the town before, through my dad, but only knew of the thermal springs. It turns out that on top of the huge cliffs, made of calcium deposits, is an ancient Greco-Roman city, Hierapolis, which at its height was home to 100,000 people. Can you imagine? I guess not, because I haven't posted any pictures. This place was incredible:
The view from the bottom-ish.
Us going up. To get to the top, you have to take off your shoes and walk 250 meters up the slope. Doesn't sound that bad, but if you step on the wrong rock or knife-shaped calcium deposit, your life sucks.
Have I mentioned that I hate Europeans now? This was one of about 4 couples we saw having these kinds of photoshoots. Yuck.
Here's the agora, or marketplace, of the ancient city Hierapolis. Perhaps you've seen enough ruins now, but I still love this stuff. Hierapolis was much more unregulated (and much less crowded) than Ephesus, so I pretty much was able to wander at will.
Here's a beautiful little temple/tomb half buried by the deposits, with the incredible view.
Again.
There are literally fields of debris, much of it beautifully carved, on the site, filled with columns, capitals, and engravings.
The amphitheater, with much of the stage sculpture uniquely still intact.
The sunset. Pretty incredible to watch it from the top of the amphitheater.
Hey lil Hierapolitan kitty! This was actually tragic, because this tiny kitten tried to follow us down the calcium path and meowed after us for a good 5 minutes.
And of course, cute little kids running after us saying 'click! click!' when they see the cameras.
We left Pamukkale at about 9 this morning, arriving in Eğirdir around 4. The town is set at the foot of a mountain on the shores of Turkey's second largest lake:
Our hostel was very accommodating, offering, as one of the managers put it, 'free water pipe for the kids!' (us). We spent the afternoon swimming in the lake and walking around a 13th century Seljuk mosque compound, finishing up with a moon-rise dinner:
With Edward and Kelly's help, I'm finally starting to learn how to use my camera!
That's about it; we're actually in Konya now (it took so long to load pictures that I wasn't able to post in Eğirdir), so I still need to talk about yesterday. Hopefully soon. Thanks for reading, and I'll talk to you all later!
Pamukkale means 'cotton castle' in Turkish, a reference to the billowing white cliffs that dominate the town. I had heard of the town before, through my dad, but only knew of the thermal springs. It turns out that on top of the huge cliffs, made of calcium deposits, is an ancient Greco-Roman city, Hierapolis, which at its height was home to 100,000 people. Can you imagine? I guess not, because I haven't posted any pictures. This place was incredible:
The view from the bottom-ish.
Us going up. To get to the top, you have to take off your shoes and walk 250 meters up the slope. Doesn't sound that bad, but if you step on the wrong rock or knife-shaped calcium deposit, your life sucks.
Have I mentioned that I hate Europeans now? This was one of about 4 couples we saw having these kinds of photoshoots. Yuck.
Here's the agora, or marketplace, of the ancient city Hierapolis. Perhaps you've seen enough ruins now, but I still love this stuff. Hierapolis was much more unregulated (and much less crowded) than Ephesus, so I pretty much was able to wander at will.
Here's a beautiful little temple/tomb half buried by the deposits, with the incredible view.
Again.
There are literally fields of debris, much of it beautifully carved, on the site, filled with columns, capitals, and engravings.
The amphitheater, with much of the stage sculpture uniquely still intact.
The sunset. Pretty incredible to watch it from the top of the amphitheater.
Hey lil Hierapolitan kitty! This was actually tragic, because this tiny kitten tried to follow us down the calcium path and meowed after us for a good 5 minutes.
And of course, cute little kids running after us saying 'click! click!' when they see the cameras.We left Pamukkale at about 9 this morning, arriving in Eğirdir around 4. The town is set at the foot of a mountain on the shores of Turkey's second largest lake:
Our hostel was very accommodating, offering, as one of the managers put it, 'free water pipe for the kids!' (us). We spent the afternoon swimming in the lake and walking around a 13th century Seljuk mosque compound, finishing up with a moon-rise dinner:
With Edward and Kelly's help, I'm finally starting to learn how to use my camera!That's about it; we're actually in Konya now (it took so long to load pictures that I wasn't able to post in Eğirdir), so I still need to talk about yesterday. Hopefully soon. Thanks for reading, and I'll talk to you all later!
2 comments:
the pictures are AMAZING! i want to comment on each one, but alas- this is not facebook. So I'll leave you with this: a. I wish I was in Turkey, b. I served dinner to a jet-setting old couple and we chatted up about Turkey and how safe it is? and c. my dentist and I had a short convo about the change of capitals in Turkey. That is all. HAVE FUUUUN
ps- that was me, Chloe.
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