PAMUKKALE

You've probably seen the TV advert for Turkey where a girl swims down a colonnaded street - yes swims! Well, now it's your chance to do the same.

Pamukkale (Cotton Castle) is one of the most enchanting sights in the whole of Turkey Although you are likely to have seen numerous photographs they hardly prepare you for the sight of the great dazzling white plateau, almost 400 feet high, rising in a curtain of stalagmites and shallow pools, one passing into the next on hundreds of different levels.

Pamukkale is a photographers dream with a fairyland of cotton white forms and pale blue water cascading gently down. This amazing confection was formed by nothing but the limestone rich water issuing from the thermal springs of Cal Dagi.

The charms of the place also caught the eye of Eumenes II of Pergamon who founded Hierapolis (Holy City) on top of the plateau. The great baths situated near the car park were constructed in the 2nd century AD and have been so well preserved that they now have been turned into a museum containing many fine marbles, unearthed by Italian excavators.

You can also visit the temple dedicated to Apollo, a fountain and grotto which is supposed to have been Pluto's - god of the underworld - sanctuary.

The cotton castles of Pamukkale

Further along is a restored theatre also from 2nd century AD with reliefs of Artemis. Other excavations include: a colonnaded street erected by the Emperor Domition, a monumental gate of the same period, and a necropolis which stretches over a mile and which has a fascinating array of tombs and sarcophagi dating from the foundation of the city to Christian times.

We don't leave the village until lunchtime so that our arrival time at Pamukkale doesn't coincide with everybody else!! This also gives you the chance to see the pools at sunset and when they are a lot less crowded.
Day: Special Request
Depart: 1.00pm Return: Approximately 10.00pm
Price: £33.00