Oct 30 - Up early and out the door as it gets light. The larger bus companies have an awesome system in İzmir, where they can pick people up at various points in the city and whisk them to the remote bus station. Our pick up point is about a 5 minute walk. Soon we are at the station and on our bus. Head directly east, slowly ascending toward the Anatolian plateau. We aren’t really ascending it, just moving along a major river valley to the city of Denizli. Here I quickly buy another bus ticket for a few days hence and we find a minibus going up the northern slopes of the valley to Pamukkale. It is 14 TL per ticket.
Next to that photo of the Library of Celsius on the cover of the typical Türkiye tourist pamphlet will be one of the travertine terraces of Pamukkale. One can only imagine that these terraces mystified ancient people, as the formations resemble snow from a great distance. We disembark within view of them on the downhill side, and head over to our guesthouse.
The hot springs, up the hill from where we stay, have run down in streams for many millennia, and over time this has led to a vast deposit of calcium carbonate. The route of deposition has shifted and split, leading to many terraces, gullies, and cliffs.
At its point of origin, the water is supersaturated in carbonate, and upon reaching the low pressures at the earth’s surface, begin unloading this mineral as a solid (when water is under pressure or at high temperatures, it has the capacity to dissolve many more minerals and keep them in suspension).
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Eat a cheap lunch/dinner in town and retire to our quiet guesthouse. There is a tiny black kitten there, so there is plenty of quality time for Odette.
Türkiye III