Pamukkale/Selcuk

Pamukkale, which means Cotton Kingdom, this area is known for the production of cotton. These are the famous Thermal Terraced Pools. The pools are man made but the thermal water that flows into them has been round for 1000s of years and were famous for their healing powers. People would travel for miles to come and be cured at these pools and sometimes they died here ... it was known as a health spa back in the day. 

The last 2 days have been cold ... we have had to break out our icebreaker tops, last night I wore leggings and a woollen top to bed. We have had perfect weather, hot, hot, hot, ever since we have been in Bulgaria and Turkey so we can't complain. In fact we are enjoying the change ... reminds us of NZ.

We have a few extra photos that we thought we would post to show where we have been and you might be interested in.

Me standing in front of the Blue Travertines ... the colour of the water comes from water and calcium.

Panoramic view of the calcified hills at Pamukkale ... they look really impressive and can be seen from a distance.

I thought of Alice and her housekeeping days at Soho Hotel when I saw these duvets hanging over the rails of a hotel. This is how  Hotel house keeping is done in Turkey ... 

Our room in Selcuk ... a good size, we weren't falling over each other.

The courtyard view from our room ... we didn't use the pools it got too cold here. We watched an amazing lightening storm from here one evening ... it was so much fun standing round their outdoor fire with everyone looking at the lightening dance across the sky. Reminded me of Rob and the times we sat round his bomb fires which he loved to light.

We came across these turtles in Selcuk ... a male and female ... the male is at the back harassing the female. Everytime I see an animal like this ... lizard, spider etc I think of Harriet, Digger, Meg and Henry and I really wish they were here so we could show them. They would love watching these turtles and their mating dance.

The library in Ephesus ... this is a stunning facade ... I thought of Rosie when we were standing here, worth a visit Rose! Who wouldn't like a library like this?

I know ... we have posted a lot of photos like this ... but I love these stone works ... I thought this was beautiful and they are so big.

The detail is amazing ...  I think this might be our last photo of religious ruins ... Gallipoli ruins next.

We had a bit of a wander round Selcuk before we caught our bus ... I had to use the WC ... I know I have mentioned that we have to pay to use public toilets here, the most I have paid is 2L ... the toilets are very clean and there are plenty of them in Turkey ... which is great!  It would appear that running a WC is a real industry here. We came across a WC that was set up as a business at the back of a family home. I have never seen a toilet like it! This is the women's room.

On the walls of the stalls they had cellotaped plastic flowers and CDs. I wish I had a photograph. Pete calls this differentiated marketing, you take something ordinary and add something different to make it more appealing, value added ... like this value added WC. 

This was on the wall ... I am really sorry that I managed to blur it ... I wonder what was on the mens wall. As I walked out the vendors were sitting outside waiting for clients, I told them how nice their WC is ... they were very proud.

Petrol is very expensive here ... priced by the litre ... 1 Turkish Lira is NZ57c ... gas is much more expensive in Turkey than NZ or the States, amongst the most expensive in the world.

This is the bus we travelled on ... they are huge ... they are run like an airline ... refreshments, TVs in the back of seats and they have WiFi ... that does not work. All the movies are dubbed over in Turkish ... no subtitles. The bus rides are hours. I watched 4 movies on the bus with no dialogue ... I could still tell the  basic plot of each story.