We arrive, book in to our hotel, and head straight for the travertines. It's not possible to adequately describe these terraces of calcium-formed pools, so I recommend you google for pictures of them. I did that before we left, and we were all really looking forward to this visit. As you'll see from the pictures, this is an amazing natural formation, and one of our hoped for highlights was soaking in the pools. So naturally, we were very disappointed to find that access to most of the pools is barred and apparently has been for 17 years. This is not well known, and not even LP mentioned it. We struggled manfully on, heading up the travertines and enjoying them as much as we could.
At the top are the ruins of a place called Hierapolis, a Roman city. The ruins are in good condition, and include a well preserved theatre. The city is on the top of a hill, and the views of the surrounds are spectacular. We wandered around for a while, then headed for the theatre. When we were almost there, we heard singing coming from there. It was beautiful - opera, which sounded Italian, and it carried clearly to where we were. We hastened to try to hear some more from inside the theatre but it had stopped by the time we got there. As we entered, who should we see but Geoff and Mei, our friends from Goreme. It was lovely to see them again, and it turns out that it was Mei who was singing.
After we finish at the theatre, we have seen all of the ruins that we want to, so we head to Cleopatra's pool. This pool is fed by the natural springs, and is 36 degrees. It has been there since Hierapolis was in existence, and while it has obviously been updated, the pool still contains ruins - chunks and fragments of columns and buildings. We eventually spend a couple of hours in the pool, despite David's concerns about it being a soup of germs, given its lovely warmth.
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