The trip took place in October 2009. It really was a spur of the moment thing. We had talked about going and then it just happened. Research we believe is the key to success in any trip, so we had looked at hotels in the area using our tried and trusted website www.Tripadvisor.co.uk which we always use as it gives you all the information you need about the hotels in the chosen area and great rates as well. Recommended if you have not tried it.
We set off in the morning, about 7.00am, in temperatrures of 20 plus degrees (C) and set off towards Fethiye, then taking the road towards Denizli. This road takes you away from the coast and up through the centre of Antalya region. It was a terrific ride and the temperature was perfect for riding. We only had overnight clothes packed in the bags so the bikes were not laden down with luggage like the previous trip.
After a few bum breaks on the way we finally decided breakfast was definitely the next item on the agenda. We finally pulled into a garage near Cavdir for some fuel and attached to it was a restaurant/cafe style building, very popular and common in Turkey on the main tourist routes.
After fueling up we rode the bikes over to the restaurant, which had a bedouin style tent attached and sat outside enjoying the morning sun. What surprised us was that a man came out of the restaurant in full kitchen whites and spoke reasonable english. They were offering 'gozleme' at a very reasonable price so we all decided to have a couple each. We were expecting them to be prepared in the kitchen, but as soon as we had ordered a fire was started in the tent and we could hear food preparation taking place behind a chimney. Well, we just had to look!. There sitting on a stool next to a newly lit fire was a young woman freshly preparing our gozleme.
She prepared two types, one with potatoe and the other with cheese. They were without doubt the best gozleme we have had in Turkey to date, and so cheap.After we had fuelled up as well we set off towards Denizli. The expected radar traps were evident again, but now they seem to be setting the camera car some 5-10 kms away from the police cars. Bizarre, this was the fist time we had seen this, but it would not be the last!
Finally we came to Denizli and rode through. Nothing spectacular, so we just kept following the signs to Pammukale. In the distance I could see a white covering like snow on a hillside. It had to be Pammukale, but it looked peculiar just there sandwiched between parched green fields. The nearer we got all the tourist signs appeared and then the locals appeared trying to persuade us to stay at their hotels, or the ones they had been paid to advertise.
Pammukale itself is quite small, not what you expect really, and it really is a bit of a nothing place. We were shocked as we had expected it to be really up together offering a very modern image. It was not. It was dirty, almost run down with farm machinery just dumped at the side of the road, along with the usual builders rubble just dumped in piles. Hotels that were vying for trade had dirty swimming pools full of leaves. I know it was the end of the season when no sane person would want to go swimming, but I have always thought the image that you present to your public about your hotel will say something about what you can expect standards and service wise. Our favoured hotel was fully booked and they recommended another. Off we went and decided it was OK for one night, but any longer and it would have been a 'No Thankyou'. Good price though!
One observation that may reflect on the poor quality of accomodation there was is that most people visit the terraces of Pammukale by tour bus. They visit, eat and then go back to where they came from. These day trips do not encourage investment in hotels/pensions as no one stays there.
We checked in and parked the bikes somewhere safe and set off to explore the Pammukale terraces. It was now around 1.00pm. One word of caution, Take good sunglasses with you, you will need them!
This is the approach to the terraces at Pammukale. The entrance is just up on the right
Entrance is made through a control gate where you have to buy the ticket. It was a staggering 25TL - £10 per person when converted - we dutifully paid and entered. You can go all that way and say 'no thank you I am not paying that', well you could, but it would be a bit stupid!
Once inside you walk up the path to the first waterpool.
Here you are met by a guard and if you want to go any further you must take your shoes off and go paddling. It was a hot October day, yes we do get them in Turkey that late in the year, so we quickly stripped down to swimwear and continued. If you do not want to go as far as swimwear then cutoffs are advised.
You can see the security guard on the left of the picture enforcing the no shoes rule. He actually blows a whistle at you and this became common place further up the terraces. If you did something they did not want you to they blew their whistle at you. it became a familiar sound the higher you went. It is quite a climb and we were amazed at the formation of the limestone pools. What did surprise us was that the authorities appeared to have done some repair work to the pools and it looked mighty like swimming pool grout over concrete!
You can see the wall of the pool on the top right. Hmmm!!!!
Well, up we went and when we got half way up it was decided to have a cool down in one of the pools. They are not very deep as you can see, but very welcoming and refreshing all the same.
As we neared the top you could see how the terraces had been formed thousands of years ago. A lot of the water had been diverted and as a result a lot of the terraces are now dry. What they have done though is to pump the water along the upper terraces and the water just cascades down over them.
You can see how busy it was by the line of people along the terrace. In the main they were Russian and from the plastic wrist bands had been bussed in from an all inclusive hotel somewhere.Once we were at the top we decided to go to the left of the terraces away from the crowds and explore the other side. To our complete surprise we came across the ruins of the old city of Hierapolis. We did not know it was there and there was no indication anywhere that it was on the top. People we know who had visited Pammukale when we were talking with them later about the trip were amazed to hear of this city. They had gone to the top of the terraces and then down again.
You can see from the picture on the board how big this place was, and therefore how important it was to the Romans.
The remains of the old Roman baths are very well preserved and today form part of a museum complex.
In the distance you can see the amphi-theatre, or at least what is left of it after the earthquake struck.
This was part of the main street in Hierapolis
This is the communal toilet adjacent to the main street. Men and women went about their ablusions discussing the topics of the day. You can see the channels on the bottom of the picture and the seats were suspended above the channel attached to the wall. All the waste material was then flushed away along the channels with continous flowing water. Nifty!
Further along towards the amphitheatre end there was new building that covered a pool area. There are thermal springs at Pammukale and they have built a very elaborate cafe complex around them where you can eat and drink and for a fee, a very big fee, you can go into the pool but only for a limited time. I think the maximum time was 20 minutes, but cannot be too sure of that.
We explored the city remains and the terraces for hours and finally left around 6.00pm. On the way back to the hotel we stopped off at a roadside cafe/bar and enjoyed a nice cool beer or two. Maybe it was the heat, the great day exploring and discovering the city, but boy did they go down well. Then back to the hotel for a shower, quick change and then out to grab something to eat. We decided to eat at the hotel where we had tried to book into but they were full. It was a good meal and the walk back to our own hotel was a pleasant way to end the day.
The following morning we met for breakfast, which I must say was a bit mediocre. We had slept well, but then Phil shared the fact that unknowingly he had shared his bed with a cockcroach, which he did not discover until he got out of bed the next morning. Yuk!
Breakfast consumed we loaded the luggage back onto the bikes and headed off to Aphrodisias. We had never heard of it before, but dear friends of ours, Bart & Patricia from Belgium, had told us of this place. Bart had raved about it and insisted we must go if we were going to Pammukale. Bart is an archeologist, so he knows what he is talking about, and off we went. The ride to Aphrodisias, about 120 kms, was an easy one and we managed to avoid being caught by police radar with the help of other motorists warning us. Very common in Turkey now because there are so many radar traps.
On arriving at Aphrodisias we had to leave the bikes in a carpark and then get the tractor and trailer, to the site. It was well organised and the carpark charge was a reasonable 4 TL
Aphrodisias is one of the oldest sacred sites in Turkey. Dedicated to the ancient Mother Goddess and then the Greek goddess Aphrodite, it was the site of a magnificent Temple of Aphrodite and the home of a renowned school of marble sculpture. The Temple of Aphrodite later became a Christian basilica through an impressive swapping of columns.
Today, the Temple of Aphrodite is well-preserved and partially restored; it is not hard to imagine its ancient splendor. Aphrodisias also offers ruins of a large theatre, a stadium and other structures, as well as an on-site museum displaying artifacts.
The site of Aphrodisias has been sacred since as early as 5800 BC, when Neolithic farmers came here to worship the Mother Goddess of fertility and crops. In Greek times, the site was dedicated to Aphrodite, the goddess of love and fertility. The site was named Aphrodisias during the 2nd century BC and the great Temple of Aphrodite was built in the 1st century AD.
The cult of Aphrodite at Aphrodisias was distinctive, reflecting the goddess' ancient origins and commonalities with other Anatolian deities while also bringing in familiar Greco-Roman motifs that made her universal.
For centuries Aphrodisias consisted of just the shrine, but when the Romans defeated the Pontic ruler Mithridates in 74 BC, Aphrodisias was rewarded for its loyalty and began to prosper.
Sulla and Julius Caesar were devotees of Venus and favored her city, and the emperor Augustus granted it the high privileges of autonomy and tax-free status, declaring Aphrodisias "the one city from all of Asia that I have selected to be my own."
Thereafter it became a cultural and artistic hub known for its exquisite marble sculptures made from quarries of beautiful white and blue-gray marble that lay about a mile east of the city. Sculptures produced in Aphrodisias were exported as far as North Africa and Rome.
Aphrodisias remained a pagan stronghold long after the introduction of Christianity to the area, but it was eventually renamed Stavropolis ("city of the cross") and then Caria after the local region. (The modern Turkish name, Geyre, derives from Caria.)
During the Byzantine era, Aphrodisias/Stavropolis became the seat of the metropolitan bishop of Caria and the Temple of Aphrodite was turned into a Christian basilica. It was a major undertaking, unique among all temple-to-church conversions. Walls and colonnades were dismantled and reused to enlarge and modify the building. The columns of the front and back of the temple were used to extend the side colonnades, creating two long rows of 19 columns each. The cella of the temple was also dismantled, with its stone reused in the construction of new walls on all sides.
The church was renovated in the middle Byzantine era and stood for centuries until was destroyed, possibly in the Seljuk raids of the late 12th century. The city faded into obscurity and today is part of the Turkish village of Geyre.
Remains of the Temple of Aphrodite, a stadium and portions of a bathhouse were always visible at the site without the need for excavations, but, beginning in 1961, archaeological digs also revealed a theater, an odeon, a basilica, a market, houses and baths, a monumental gateway, and a sanctuary for worship of the Roman emperor.
The existence of Aphrodisias was almost forgotten until a Turkish professor, Dr. Kenan Erim, of New York University received a grant from National Geographic to excavate the site in the 1960ís. His archaeological work revealed a city of vast importance. As a tribute to his great work upon his death he was buried at Aphrodisias. A fitting place to rest for a dedicated man.
On leaving Aphrodisias we took a different route back to Kas taking the route near Mugla and Marmaris, Dalaman, Goecek, Fethiye and then Kas. The riding was superb, great temperatures and relatively empty roads. A great ride covering just over 920 kms over the two days.
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