Pamukkale, what an awesome surreal place. I wasn’t too sure what to expect of the popular tourist attraction. I arrived into town at about 3.30pm and after a quick lunch I made my way up the blindingly white hillside. You have to take your shoes off to walk up so your shoes don’t dirty the white chalk.
I was sure I would be discouraged by the busloads of tourists that flood the place every day but when I arrived there were much less people than I expected. There were still a lot but there were far less people around the lower pools because the busses drop tourists off at the top of the hill and most can’t be arsed walking down and then having to waddle back up the hill.
As you get higher on the hill the water gets warmer as it is water from geothermal activity, so by the time the water reaches the lower pools it has cooled down. There are main pools where you can sit (not deep enough to swim) and cover yourself in the white clay/chalk/radioactive/mud… Yes, slightly radioactive apparently. I bet most people don’t know that when they are smearing that stuff all over themselves haha.
This place really is amazing though and I was pleasantly surprised with it. I wasn’t expecting the whole surface to be flowing with water, but it was. I was expecting the surface to be slippery, but it wasn’t. There are a heap of roman ruins behind the pools including a pretty impressive roman theatre and a museum. There sis also another (geothermal heated) pool which cost an extra $15 AUD, but I didn’t have the time to check it out.
After watching the spectacular sunset I found the hot water runoff channel from the paid area and sat with my feet in the hot fast flowing water watching the towns lights twinkle to life and the stars appear. The hillside is actually open 24 hours, but after the sunset everyone seems to vanish at which point you pretty much have the entire hillside and pools to yourself as night falls!
I highly recommend watching the sunset from the very top (one of the best I have ever seen) and then sticking around to experience this place at night time too. Its spectacular.
