Turkish Mosaic circuit. Day 11. (200 Kilometre distance covered)

14th of October 2010
Selçuk - Denizli - Aphrodisias - Hierapolis - Pamukkale - Denizli

We left fairly early on our way to Aphrodisias, considered one of the finest archeological sites in Turkey inspite of still being partly undiscovered. Its name is said to have derived from the Goddess of Love - Aphrodite, who has her sanctuary here and whose temple precint was completed in the 2nd century.

As we got on some  farm tractors adapted to carry around 20 passengers, we thought the ride into the heart of the surrounding forest would last more than just a mere two minutes, which is the time it took to get to the starting  point of our visit.  We were all visibly disapointed ..., I felt that maybe even more disappointed  than with the fact that the it was raining again ... and it did not look like the weather would change in the following couple of hours (the duration of the visit).

The sight of the Tetrapylon (a gateway which supposedly greeted pilgrims as they approached the temple) impressed me, because there it was ... standing in its "imposing" like attitude in the middle of nowhere.

But I must say the Stadium  and Theatre were as impressive as the Tetrapylon, namely because of the capacity they are said to have had (for 30,000 and 8,000 spectators respectively), which is  almost unimaginable unless one actually looks at their real size.

Stadium

Theatre

As we were appreciating the theatre, some visitors ... (or performers) were putting on an act or ritual of some sort, which implied quite a lot of hugging and kissing, but none of us came up with the same opinion as to what was really happening ..., so we will never know, I guess ... and we might have missed some "important" issue ...

The next stop before we headed to Denizli was the site Museum, opened to the public in 1979 and which proved to be worth the visit, because it was particularly well organised. The artifacts, many of which were connected to Aphrodite deserve being seen.

Statue of the three Graces, in exhibit at the Museum.

By the time we reached Denizli, having headed directly to the Unesco Hierapolis of Phrygia site, it was not only raining heavily, but I was also not feeling physically very well, so despite the undisputable importance of this ancient Greek city, located on top of hot springs used as a spa since the 2nd century before Christ, I was not able to "admire" it the way I feel I should have had.  One of the many tombs, as well as the Frontinus street caught my attention, though.

Hierapolis tomb, dated 1st century AD (Left). The Frontinus street (Right).

Pamukkale ("Cotton Castle" in Turkish), which I had read a lot about and was looking really forward to, ended up being a disappointement and this time I felt that the rain was not the only one responsible, but possibly the fact that I had imagined its  travertines (terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water) full of water, (as in accordance with every image and postcard I had seen) ... and they were almost dry ... not to say completely dry.

Pamukkale travertines

Just before sundown, as I was smoking out on the balcony of the little hotel we stayed at, overlooking Pamukkale,  I decided I had better keep its "illusive" image ... 

Tomorrow's programme "fare niente" (though associated to a boat trip to Kekova) sounds ideal ... At this moment in the circuit I feel we all need a little bit of that.