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| The Caucasus - My Journal |
Modern Water Parks and Ancient Travertines
Selcuk -> Pamukkale, 31st July
As my alarm beeped in my ear, I vaguely remembered that last night I'd agreed to change my plans for today. After Gaby and G had heard that there were a huge water park nearby, they got very excited, and were keen to check it out today. Last night, after a few drinks and applying a bit of pressure, they convinced Joel and Ed to change their plans (they were meant to be hopping on a ferry to Greece today) and to go to the Water Park with them. Then they focused their peer pressure on me. I was keen to press out with my route, but I was also tempted by the Water Park. I'd been having a great time with the four of them and the idea of spending a few hours riding flumes and dodging waves sounded really enticing. The final concern was budgeting for it...at 20€ it wasn't that cheap...so I mentally checked my budget and did a few calculations...could I keep on target with my spending with this extra cost? I'd soon decided "Yes", and to a round of cheers and handshakes, I'd agreed to go with them.
Actually, I'd realised I could get away with only changing my itinerary slightly. I could spend the morning at the Water Park, then jump on my bus in the afternoon, instead of the morning as I'd originally planned. So, after another traditional breakfast we were all soon on a tiny Dolmus riding towards the Water Park.
As it was the weekend, the place was packed with families, kids, teenagers and oldies. Unlike the indoor water parks of England, the fantastic weather here means the huge water park is all outdoors with acres of sunbathing space, a half dozen pools and a complex network of flumes all under the beating sun.
 After a couple of wet hours and some crushing English victories over the Australians on the Aqua-races (four water-slides next to each other where you can race your friends on the speedy and wet descent) I had to leave early to get my onward bus. I said a quick goodbye to the others who were staying in the park all day. But for the girls, it was a temporary good bye, I'd see Gaby at Law School in September and G would no doubt come down to visit. Quite strange to be meeting these people on the road!
Atilla's in located just outside of Selcuk, so to get to town or the bus station I needed to take a car or bus. Luckily, Attila run regular minibuses into town and back, and are very helpful when it comes to trying to catch buses. They ferried me out to my bus even though it was just me going into town at that time.
The journey to my next town, Pamukkale, was easy and I arrived in the still searing heat of the afternoon. As Pamukkale is a very small town, the bus actually stops at a large town nearby and I'd prepared myself for having to locate a connecting bus. However, on stepping off the bus, I saw a young guy asking the people who look like foreigners (with my tanned skin and dark hair, I can easily pass as a local) if they'd made a booking with the Melrose Allgau Hotel...the hotel I'd made a booking with! I told him it was me he was looking for, and he informed me that they'd be taking me to Pamukkale, so I didn't need to find the connecting bus! Wow! Great service!
I quickly realised that they had actually come into town to pick up a family who were staying at the hotel (and paying a lot more than me in the dorm room) and the timing had just worked out well for picking me up too. Oh well, I'm all for random luck!
After a short drive to Pamukkale, I blinked as we entered the town...and missed it. Pamukkale is really a very tiny town. The only reason tourists come here is for the ancient city of Hierapolis and the travertines. Apart from these sights, there really is nothing there, and most of the businesses in town reflect this; every building is a pension, restaurant, souvenir shop or other traveller amenities. The pension I was staying in was cheap, but the state of the room kinda reflected this. Although it had once been a gleaming white and sparkling hotel, the sheen has started to disappear, cracked tiles surround the pool and the trees are starting to overgrow. I'm sure some of the rooms have probably been renovated, but my room was the cheapest and was pretty basic and a little worn down looking. Oh well, I had the dorm to myself (the season is very quiet for some reason), it was still very clean and the owners were possibly the friendliest management team I'd met in Turkey.
I'd originally planned to check out the sights tomorrow, but it was still mid-afternoon and the opening hours are late, so I set out to find out what on earth "travertines" are.
The pension was located at the bottom of town, so it was a nice walk up to the site of the old city and the travertines. In a manner that is so typical to Turkey, as I was walking along the excellent highway with modern cars speeding busily along it, I suddenly noticed 2 large, hairy animals sauntering along the road being led by a small child. Funny looking horse I thought to myself, then when we'd got about 10 metres closer together it was obvious that the animals had the distinct shape of camels! Being used as transport, alongside the cars, were these powerful animals, the traditional freight movers, still in action. I love the contrasting nature of Turkey, how it effortlessly pulls together new and old!
 I soon found the entry gate to the sights and began climbing a shallow hill towards the ancient city I could see resting on the top. While looking up the hill, I also noticed that the hill appeared to be covered in snow and ice. Of course, at something like 30C, the smooth, white material with a glossy sheen couldn't be either. As I got nearer the top, tiny streams began to criss-cross across the path, until the path itself was completely white with water running all over it. Just ahead of me was a shining white pool with people splashing around in it. It looked like a white ceramic sink, filled to the brim so water was streaming over the edge.
Pheeeeeeeeep! I turned around to see a man with an armband blowing a whistle at me and indicating I should take my shoes off. I looked back in front and saw that everyone else did indeed have their shoes off. Apparently, this is to help minimise damage to the white geographical features, which I'd worked out to be the travertines. Well, it makes sense and it helps to stop the streams getting your shoes wet!
I traversed the pools and white paths as I made my way to the top of the hill. I alternated between gentle steps on the smooth, worn white rocks and hobbling on the gravel covered paths in between.
 Even though it was close to 6pm, the sun was still hot and I could feel the rays beating down onto me. Now at the top of the hill, I was away from the cool running water and it suddenly felt a lot warmer. Futilely trying to find shade, I made my way up to the ruins of Heiropolis. As I negotiated the gravel car park, I was glad to see that most of the coaches were loading up or already pulling away. Most of the crowds had left the ruins, so I would be able to explore them without the crowds.
The walk from the car park to the ruins was actually quite long and the heat of the unshaded path was already beginning to wear me out as I came to the front of the first ruins, the partly reconstructed theatre.
As I stood by the gate to the ruins, I began watching the people milling around who, after a few days of ruins, were much more interesting. There were a large number of shawled women with fabrics and pillowcases over their arms, obviously ready for selling. For one reason or another (maybe because I blend in, or because I was a lone tourist) the saleswomen were ignoring me while they tried to make sales to the other tourists. It was interesting to watch the interaction, but the women seemed distinctly lacklustre in their sales pitches. Maybe it was because it was late in the day, or just a different culture, but compared to the hard sells I'd encountered in Bali and Egypt, these guys weren't even trying.
As I sat down on a dusty rock by the gate, I became a point of interest for a few local children who were milling around. Two girls in particular with messy brown hair and mischievous smiles had moved nearby and were trying to communicate. Unfortunately, I can only say "Hello" and "Thank You", and their English was even less, so all we could do was stare at each other and jabber away in our native languages, quite aware the other side couldn't understand.
Mid "conversation" I pulled out my camera and the girls suddenly stopped talking...not because they were scared or unhappy, but because they seemed to want to have their photo taken. They instantly posed for the camera, not the contrived poses that adults adopt when they realise they're being photographed, but a casual, natural freeze, still retaining their mischievous smiles and the cheeky glints in their eyes. The photos I took during that brief and friendly interaction were my favourites of the trip so far. So much character, so evocative and yet so natural.
But no sooner had I snapped these photos, then a boisterous little boy, with a back-to-front red baseball cap came bouncing over, clearly indicating that he wanted to have his photo taken too. This kid obviously enjoyed being the centre of attention and must've been a ringleader in the group.
So after a few more photos and some ever so slightly more productive conversation with the boy, who was slightly older and had picked up a few English phrases ("What's your name?", "I'm Ronaldinhio!") I decided to buy one of the little ceramic whistling toys that the boy was pedalling. After they'd given me such good photos and some fun interactions, I had to return the favour somehow. I also took a bottle of water that they'd hauled up here and were offering to tourists.
After wandering away from the ancient theatre, I looked up at the other ruins in the distance. As it was getting late and the other buildings would be much less impressive than the ones I'd already seen, I realised I couldn't be bothered hiking the considerable distance to see them. So I ambled back to the car park and down towards my hotel, suddenly aware that I was very hungry.
I pushed the boat out and had a big meal at my hotel. The friendly staff and just as friendly prices were all the encouragement I needed. I was amused to find that the main course was the typical carb heavy Turkish meal: spaghetti, rice, chips and bread were in the single dish, along with a smattering of chicken and vegetables.
The rest of the evening passed quietly as I enjoyed the solitude of the dorm to get my journal up-to-date and to relax with some reading. As I'm now on track to become a lawyer, I'd started reading some John Grisham novels...all very easy but fun books on lawyerly adventures...
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To know the road ahead, ask those coming back
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