Spa day at Pamukkale

July 15th

A short blog today, but a few photos. Our tour today took us to Pamukkale  which lies on a fault line and is home to hot springs and travertines, which are pools of warm water created by carbonate minerals left over by the flowing water. The minerals in these hot springs are said to be the best in the world (at least by the locals here). When you first look at the travertines you would think it had recently snowed. Only once you're close to the deposits do you realize it has taken hundreds (thousands?) of years to create. Apparently 1 millimetre of mineral deposit is added to these travertines every year.

skiing anyone?

These carbonate minerals took centuries to build up.

The floor of these pools is a soft white mud and the water is warm.

And the tourists are happy.

Mother natures water slide.

Another fact (or fiction) that makes this place famous is the Cleopatra pool. Depending on who you talk to, either Cleopatra visited this area to enjoy the mineral baths which helped keep her youthful look or had her soliders bring back this water to her (for the same reason). The pool temperature is around 32 degrees celsius which makes for a very enjoyable swim. The bottom of the pool is covered in gravel and Roman artifacts.

 Same two happy tourists.

And just to prove I was here too.

These are Roman pillars that are two thousand years old, and yes I did stub my toe on them a few times.

No spa day of course would be complete without some fish eating dead skin off your feet.

For $17.00 you can have 20 minutes of being tickled at Doctor Fish.

Again, a great day and totally worth the three hour bus drive there and back, and 20 minute confrontation with the local police.

Apparently they have a road tax in Turkey. I suspect some money may have changed hands between our bus driver and the local authorities.