On first glance, Pamukkale appears somewhat ordinary, like it’s just another snow capped mountain that happens to be in Turkey. Up close, it’s totally unbelievable looking. The “snow” is really travertines, which solidified from calcium carbonate that was deposited on the hills by water from the hot springs.   In Turkish, Pamukkale is aptly named “cotton castle.”  At the top of the mountain above the travertines, there are ruins from an ancient town Hieropolis, which was a spa town founded in the Second Century BCE.  While walking around, I could totally imagine what it was like centuries ago with people hanging out in togas (maybe?) in a town and then taking a stroll down to the hot spring pools. 

Despite the fact that it’s a World Heritage Site, we could walk and swim right in the travertine pools. We couldn’t walk around too long though–the white rock was both slippery and at the same time sort of stabbed your feet while you walked on it.  It took about 3 hours to get there from Ephesus, but it was definitely worth it to see the crazy looking cotton castle. 

Photos from hot air-ballooning in Cappadocia.