The Pools of Cleopatra

The famous Travertine Terraces of Pamukkale

The Roman Ruins of Pamukkale

The main attraction of Pamukkale....yes, we swam here!

What did we do in Pamukkale? Walk on the white terraces? A little. Explore the ruins? A little? Swim in the pools of Cleopatra? A lot!

We made our way by bus and bus and bus and bus from Olympos to Pamukkale. First a mini-bus (dolmus) from Bayrams, across the creek (again less than 10 cm deep!) and up the hill to the transfer station at the outdoor café. Another dolmus from the transfer station to Antalya, where we got on a “big bus” to go to Denizli. On the bus to Denizli we met Zeynep. She is retired primary teacher who now works with her son selling and exporting Turkish marble. She learned English as a child in Istanbul, playing with the children of American military service families posted there. She had lots of interesting stories to share, and when we got to the Denizli station, before she went off to visit her daughter and grandchildren, she made sure that we were not overcharged for the half hour ride on the dolmus to our hotel in Pamukkale. “It makes me angry when I pay one lira and then I hear the bus driver charge the tourists a five lira fare” she said “When I visit Europe or England there is none of this “tourist fare”. It’s not right!” We appreciated her concern, and we paid two lira each, just the same fare as the local travelers. I think the school children rode for free.

We are still on the route organized by the travel agent, so we went to the hotel we were sent to. It’s called the “Travarten Hotel” and it’s obviously designed to accommodate large tour groups. Just as obviously, it is past its prime, and the staff are doing their best in a facility that needs a lot of maintenance work. This is the off season, and we were the only people in the hotel! It was a bit unnerving. The staff were also a bit unnerved when I asked what time we should have dinner. I don’t think they had planned to open up the restaurant for three people, but the deal was “half board” and I am not going to plan a meal if I don’t have to!

We settled ourselves in the dining room at 6:45 and had a very good meal of salad, chicken fillet, etc. Just as we were finishing up and I was thanking the cook/reception clerk/hotel manager for taking such good care of us, Alex and Adrienne from Australia, their driver and the driver’s girlfriend (who also acted as translator for the driver) arrived. That caused a bit of a flurry! We joined forces and spent the evening sharing stories and Turkish wine and beer.

Adrienne is a primary teacher (two in one day!) who is trying to decide if she should retire and Alex is an entrepreneur whose last enterprise was a taxi business. They arrived in Pamukkale via a river cruise down the Danube. They were great fun. Adrienne was wearing layers and layers of lovely fine woolen sweaters and shawls made in New Zealand. She said she loves coming to “cold places” because she can wear winter clothes. Cold Places? Obviously that’s a matter of context and life experience, but I don’t find a place where the daytime temperature doesn’t drop below 25c cold! We saw Adrienne & Alex again at breakfast, they were busy transferring to another hotel because they had been too cold in the night, only had one blanket on the bed and could not find the control for the heater.

The itinerary our Istanbul travel agent gave us did not give the time our tour to Pamukkale was to start, so the hotel staff phoned the local travel agency. “They will be here at 11:30”. Two hours. Excellent. I went back to the room for a nap, and I needed it, after our night of Australian company! When we got to the site of the Pamukkale ruins and the hot springs we did walk up to the Roman forum and down to the famous white travertine water falls, but we spent most of our time in the “Pools of Cleopatra”.

These pools are now on my short list of best hot springs I’ve ever been to. There’s the story: Mark Anthony gave the site to Cleopatra as a token of his affection for her. There’s the setting: swimming over fallen columns and other bits of ancient architecture. There’s the water: clean, clear, warm, and just a bit fizzy, it tastes like tonic water. I think only Liard Hot Springs on the Alaska Highway matches the experience, and there’s no way to swim up to the bar and get a beer at Liard Hot Springs, but if you want to, you can do that at the Pools of Cleopatra.
After our swim it was off on another mini-bus with the tour group (2 from Japan, 3 from Singapore, 1 from South Korea and we three) to Selcuk where we went our separate ways.

After some confusion (we just sat on the mini bus and waited) we were dropped of at the “Ocean Light” hotel on the waterfront in a small town called Kusadasi. Not only did our itinerary say “Ocean Line” rather than “Ocean Light” but the folks at the front desk were not expecting us, and the style of the front desk indicated a style of hotel FAR above our usual lodgings. No problem, no problem, after a few phone calls we were settled in a huge room with a sea view balcony and (oh luxury of luxuries) a BATHTUB! Free bubble bath, too. AHH.