Pamukkale

Laodicea, Turkey

Sep 242016

September 24, 2016

Just a short bus ride from Denizli is the ancient city of Laodicea. Established between 263 and 261 BC, the city was built on the river Lycus. It was located in the Hellenistic regions of Caria and Lydia, which later became the Roman Province of Phrygia Pacatiana.

Laodicea contained one of the seven churches of Asia mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

The main road with its ruts from thousands of years of carts moving down the street

Towards the end of the Roman Republic and under the first emperors, Laodicea became one of the most important and flourishing commercial cities of Asia Minor, it served as a major financial center and had a large trade in black wool.

This is the West Theater. It functioned from the Hellenistic period through to the big earthquake of 602-610

The area often suffered from earthquakes, and Laodicea was completely destroyed in a major quake during the reign of Nero (60 AD), as was its sister city up the hill Hierapolis.

This is the north theater, and was built when the town grew to big for the West Theater. Built in the 2nd century AD it could hold about 12,000 people. It stayed in use until the 7th century

Unlike Hierapolis, Laodicea rebuilt on her own funds after the great quake and became a Roman Free City. The city was eventually destroyed during the invasions of the Turks and Mongols.

The ruins are well preserved and as of 2012 are being substantially renovated. The site also continues to be an active dig.

The site is still an active dig, as can be witnessed by the stockpiling of materials as they are found

This is possibly a game board, similar to chess

Mosaics are also being uncovered.

Repair of marble columns so they can be placed in-situ

The Temple

A marble patterned floor

Pamukkale, Turkey

Sep 242016

September 24, 2016

Pamukkale means “cotton castle” in Turkish. The area contains hot springs and terraces of carbonate minerals left by flowing water.

The ancient Greco-Roman and Byzantine city of Hierapolis was built on top of the white “castle” which is 8,860 feet long, 1,970 feet wide and 525 feet high, and too awe inspiring to capture in words or photos.

Spigots for controlling the flow of water

It is difficult to completely understand how one gets travertine from this flow of water, but I am going to try. The water comes out of the ground at 95 degrees F, and contains a high concentration of calcium carbonate. When that comes in contact with oxygen it forms carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide gases, which then evaporate and leave deposits of calcium carbonate. Initially the deposits are like soft jelly and then harden over time forming what is called travertine.

In 1988, together with the ruins of Hierapolis, Pamukkale became a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, before the designation the terraces were in danger of being destroyed through a combination of neglect and commercial development. Hotels were built at the top of the site, partly obscuring ruins of Hierapolis, and wear and tear from the feet and shoes of visitors had scarred and turned many of the pools brown.

The efforts to protect the delicate natural phenomenon have dramatically changed the area. The hotels have been demolished, and in an effort to allow the pools natural white appearance to be maintained, access to the pools is tightly restricted, and water released from the spring is controlled and only distributed to a few pools at a time.

Another reason for the controlled water flow is that if a large amount of water is allowed to flow on a certain area for too long it leads to moss formation and darkening of the color of the travertine.

Artificial pools for bathing tourists have been added.

Most of us know Travertine as the Italian building material. It is a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs around the world, such as Pamukkale. Travertine has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties.

Travertine is not mined at Pamukkale, it is to valuable an area as a tourist spot, but mining Travertine is very similar to mining marble.

The underground volcanic activity, which causes the hot springs, also forced carbon dioxide into a cave, which was called the Plutonium, which in this case, means “place of the god Pluto”. Priests of Cybele, who found ways to appear immune to the suffocating gas, used this cave for religious purposes. The Plutonium can be found just below the theater in Hieropolis, and just above the pools of Pamukkale.

The Plutonium at Hierapolis

You can see Pamukkale for miles, it is simply too large to comprehend in one fell swoop.

Pamukkale as seen from several miles away at the Archeological site Laodicean.

Some more shots from the Cotton Castle:

You can see the water flowing from one pool to another

Hieropolis

Pamukkale, Turkey

Sep 232016

Hieropolis is a fascinating place to visit as there are only a few historical facts known about the origin of the city. The Phrygians built a temple, probably in the first half of the 3rd century BC and this temple would eventually form the center of Hierapolis.

In the necropolis lies many sarchophogi lost in the various earthquakes. This particular one mentions the occupant Aelios Apollinarios and his wife Neratia Apollonis

The necropolis contains many sarchophagi lost in the various earthquakes. This particular one mentions the occupant Aelios Apollinarios and his wife Neratia Apollonis

In 133 BC Attalus III bequeathed his kingdom to Rome and Hierapolis became part of the Roman province of Asia. Then in AD 17, during the rule of the emperor Tiberius, a major earthquake destroyed the city.

The city rebuilt and continued to expand until the year 60, during the rule of Nero, when an even more severe earthquake left the city completely in ruins.

After that the city was rebuilt in the Roman style with imperial financial support. During this period it grew to look as it does today.

The theater is one of the more stunning spots in all of Hierophoy

The theater is one of the more stunning spots in all of Hieropolis

A close up of the stage of the theater

The theatre was built in 129 for a visit by the emperor Hadrian. It was renovated under Septimius Severus (193–211). (It was destroyed during subsequent earthquakes and what you see today is a reconstruction taken place in modern times. )

During this golden ear of Hierapolis, thousands of people came to take the medicinal properties of the hot springs and so new building projects were started: two Roman baths, a gymnasium, several temples, a main street with a colonnade, and a fountain at the hot spring.

The city was too large to comprehend, these walls are on a hill very far away from the main road

The city is too large to comprehend, these walls are on a hill very far away from the main road

Hierapolis became one of the most prominent cities in the Roman Empire in wealth and its population of 100,000.

During the 4th century, the Christians entered and filled Pluto’s Gate (the Plutonium) with stones as a way of subjugating the religion of the time and propagating Christianity. At the same time the Roman baths were transformed to a Christian basilica.

Sarchaphogi in the museum

In the early 7th century, the town was devastated first by Persian armies and then by another destructive earthquake.

In the 12th century, the area came under the control of the Seljuk sultanate of Konya before falling to crusaders under Frederick Barbarossa and their Byzantine allies in 1190. About thirty years later, the town was abandoned. In 1354, the great Thracian earthquake toppled the remains of the ancient city and the ruins were slowly covered with a thick layer of limestone.

Hierapolis was first excavated by the German archaeologist Carl Humann in 1887 and excavations still continue today.

The vaulted ceiling of the baths are incomprehensible in their vastness and the quality and skill of their engineering

The exterior of the baths

The Ploutonion "Place of Pluto"; Latin: Plutonium) or Pluto's Gate was a ploutonion (a religious site dedicated to the god Pluto) (another name for the god Hades). The site is built on top of a cave which emits toxic gases, hence its use as a ritual passage to the underworld. Ritual animal sacrifices were common at the site.

The Ploutonion “Place of Pluto” or Pluto’s Gate was a a religious site dedicated to the god Pluto (another name for Hades). The site is built on top of a cave which emits toxic gases, hence its use as a ritual passage to the underworld. Ritual animal sacrifices were common at the site.

The north Byzantine gate was built at the end of the 4th century AD.

The latrine of Hieropolis was found in a state of collapse from an earthquake. The room is divided longitudinally by a row of columns that supported a roof composed of travertine. Along the two long sides ran a drain sluicing the liquids into the cloaca beneath Frontons Street. Along the perimeter walls were seats with holes and a small channel with clean running water. The construction is dated to the end of the 1st century AD

The latrine of Hieropolis was found in a state of collapse from an earthquake and was reconstructed in modern times. The room is divided longitudinally by a row of columns that supported a roof composed of travertine. Along the two long sides ran a drain sluicing the liquids into the cloaca beneath Frontinus Street. Along the perimeter walls were seats with holes and a small channel with clean running water. The construction is dated to the end of the 1st century AD.

Frontons Street was the principal street of Heklj;; It was built in the 1st century AD

Frontinus Street was the principal street of Hieropolis. It was built in the 1st century AD.

Tombs in one of two necropoli

Inscriptions can be found on stones throughout Hieropolis

This is a tumulus. A low cylindrical drum made of travertine slabs supporting an earthen cone. It is another form of tomb and dates to the 2nd century AD with an inscription to its last occupant Lucius Salvias Paolinus.

One of the few buildings being taken over by the carbonite materials of the mineral pools of Pamukkale

3 Jitneys, 2 Gentlemen, 1 Çay

Pamukkale

Sep 232016

I chose to stay in the town of Denizli for this leg of my trip. I cannot recommend my hotel, or the town for that matter, but I have not met anyone that can recommend a hotel or the town either. It is possible it would have been better to have stayed up the mountain in the town of Karahyit, but I am not sure that would have been an improvement.

Denizli is one hour from the airport and “25 minutes” from the sites I came to see. In this part of the country you make the best of what you can.

Everywhere in the valley pomegranates were ripening on the trees and found on the streets as fruit or fresh squeezed juice

Everywhere in the valley pomegranates were ripening on the trees and found on the streets as fruit to purchase or fresh squeezed juice

I headed to bay 76 of the bus station in the town of Denizli, to catch the bus to Pamukkale and Hierapolis and that is where the adventure began. I am assuming that this entire thing would have been much easier if there were tourists, but keep in mind, there are no tourists in Turkey right now, they have been scared away by a) “the coup” and b) the bombings. So there is no reason to assume that the only woman on the bus dressed in western clothing with a giant camera around her neck wants to get off at the one tourist destination on the entire bus route, and there is also no way for this woman to have known that there are absolutely no signs at the stop she wants to get off on, and no one that speaks a word of English to tell her to get off, even though she was very explicit to the driver as to where she was going.

The town of K seems to be a gathering space for the countryside around it as the local market and center of society.

The town of Karahyit seems to be a gathering space for the countryside around it as the local market and center of society.

I do not blame the driver, I do not blame anyone, this is just life. My adventure begins when, after boarding the bus and ensuring that he understands I want to get off at Pamukkale, I sit back. We reach the end of the line and I ask Pamukkale? thinking I would get pointed where I am going. Instead, I got that look of, stupid tourist, this is Karahyit, your stop was 3 miles back, but not to worry, I will tell the next driver and he will take you back for free.

Beans soaking in oil and olive oil are a big seller on the main street.

The next driver arrives, yes I understand, no problem so I sit on the bus waiting for it to depart. By now I have figured out where I should have gotten off and stand as he drives right past it at 60 miles an hour. I tap him on the shoulder, he does the universal slap on the head, I am so stupid, I am so sorry look and takes me to the next stop, drops me off and says, driver will come, no charge.

A husband and wife discussing the merits of bloomers

In the interim, he has me wait in the van of a somewhat questionable character that is chain smoking. The next bus comes, and he says no problem, one stop away. THAT is when I realize, stupid me, I had left my purse on the chain smokers bus. Now remember, no one speaks English and Turkish is, sadly, one of those languages I have yet to master even one word of. I grabbed the woman’s purse next to me and pointed backwards. The bus driver understood, got on the radio and all was saved.

The kind bus driver that took care that my purse was returned and bought me tea while we waited for its delivery

This fine gentleman even bought me a cup of tea (çai) while we waited for the third bus, with my purse to arrive. The adventure only took 2 hours, and a handful of truly lovely and honest people that cared enough to help, and did it willingly, as far as I could tell.

The fruit in the market was just fabulous

I wish I could explain the bus system. It seems so simple, one departs every 25 minutes from the train station and stops along the way until it arrives at Karahyit. Then it does the same in reverse. However, it isn’t quite that simple. I do not know if these buses are owned individually and then they pay a fee to the government or what, but the route is more of one a family van my take on a very, very busy school day. Everyone hops on and says where they want to go, and instinctively know how much to pay. Mom goes to pick up daughter at school. One rider was coming from hang gliding class 7 blocks off the main road. One woman needed to go see her father about 12 blocks off the main road in what appeared to be a completely different town, in the meantime it is social hour on the bus. The men sit in the front seat with the driver and talk non-stop, while the women sit in the back and talk non-stop. If it is full, people sit where they can or stand and hold on for dear life. I do wish I spoke some of the language to have enjoyed the gossip.

You can also buy anything dried, I assume for use in the winter

It also has a strange system of hierarchy. The bus that arrives then goes into a queue and how they chose who drives back down the mountain remains a mystery to me. They don’t sit in their van as though they are next, they park the van and take off, knowing a call will come on their cellular.

The bus is 4TL for the entire route, and I have no idea how much if you only go three blocks, but 4TL is $1.34 US, so this was the best entertainment ever for under $3.00.

Walking the streets of Karahyit

The joy of Turkey, is that everything moves at its own pace, so I did not miss one thing I had set out to see that day, and got a lot of local color to boot.

This area is a large agricultural spot and a center for carpet production, as well as one of Turkey’s major textile towns, specializing in Aegean cotton. I don’t think they care if their hotels are good or not, or if tourists come to see the sites, they have better ways to make money.

This is the Denizli Rooster, the symbol of the city founded in the 2nd Century AD. It is said that the sonorous crow of the rooster of Denizli accompanies visitors on their excursions around the city.