April 2: Hieropolis

 Today we explored the marble cliffs of Pamukkale, which is Turkish for “Cloud Castle” (you’ll see why, and explore the city of Hieropolis, which was a Phrygian, then Greek, Roman, and Byzantine city.  It is also the site were St. Philip met his untimely end.  The day started off cold and rainy, and we were glad to have the umbrella, but the sun broke through, and we ended up carrying our wet weather gear.  Another interesting and rewarding day, with feet waked to nubs, then soaked in a spa.

The entire site is covered in flowers, camomile, dandelions, wild mint (which the bees love, and fields of red anenomes.  These were my Nana's favourite flowers, and they grow in profusion.  As you can see, much of the site is unexcavated, or a least unrestored..  One can often make out the bases of buildings and the city walls.

This isn't snow this time.  These are limestone pools that form terraces, and are formed when water from the underground hot springs flows over the terraces, loses carbon dioxide, and deposits limestone.  It even caused the city of Hirapolis to be buried under nearly 2 metres of marble.

Since this is one of the most popular (and photographed) sites in Turkey, tourists are no longer allowed to walk on the natural pools.  Instead, they created these areas in 1997 that are natural on the bottom, but which have cement walls.  The limestone has already formed over the cement, so you can't tell the difference, but this unique natural wonder is protected.  The new limestone feels exactly like a cuttle-bone.

 

Here we are on the main street, right in front of the agora.

The public latrine.  Clean water ran down the trench in the front that there was a long wooden bench built over the trench in the back for, well, you know!

We found a lot of these little guys as we wandered around the ancient site.  Although there were lots of people here (we counted 22 tour buses as we left at 4:30), the site is so large that we never felt we were in a crowd.  Unfortunately, Ian and i took the path less traveled, and we each managed to step on a snail, to the delight of the birds that followed us!

The area beyond the north gate is the Champs Elysees, or necropolis of the city.  People built tombs outside the city to keep ghosts from wandering around, and this is tomb is a typical "house" type of tomb.  Because the graveyard was in use for a few hundred years, styles in tombs changed, and many were used over and over again, every 150 years or so.

I think Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, or any old cemetery,  would look much the same after a few earthquakes and a thousand years.

The very steep theatre.

This is the inside of the Church of the Martyrdom of St. Philip.  St. Philip was crucified and stoned on this site in AD 80, and this church was built in the fifth century to service that many pilgrims that came to the site.  It is very very very high up on the hill.

A spectacularly beautiful site, with natural wonder, the charm of the countryside, and history beneath every footstep.