A Pamukkele Weekend

On Friday night, the headmaster, Ralph, and the business manager, Ali, of Isikkent took me out for my welcoming dinner. Jen and Maddy selected the restaurant, a fancy Italian/Seafood joint called Venedik, situated along a posh stretch of road in an adjacent neighorhood called Bostanli. After our Turkish lessons from 6-8, Ralph drove us over to the restaurant, where I dined on a delicious pizza and a steak. The rest of the group ate from a fixed menu filled with meze, salad, and two fish courses. Everyone left feeling very, very full.

The next morning we woke up before the crack of dawn to catch a service bus to Izmir’s main otogar (bus station). We were headed to Pamukkele, a small town 4 hours southwest of Izmir that had natural hot springs and calcified mountains. We left our apartment at 6:20am, and It was about a 20 minute walk to catch the service bus. We hopped onto the main bus at the otogar and we were off to our destination. The bus lines here are quite nice here (well, some are and others can be quite unreliable, so we avoid those). There was plenty of legroom, and every 20 minutes or so a bus attendant would come by offering a drink, a bite to eat, or a moist towelette to cleanse your hands. Peter Pan Trailways could learn a few things from these guys. Even though these are full coaches, they don’t have any bathrooms on board, so I spent one 45 minute stretch on the edge of my seat praying our next pit stop was a moment away.

Once near Pumukkele, we had to get on another service bus to carry us on the final 20 miles of our trip. When we got off the bus and saw the town for the first time, we realized that the tourist off-season had pretty much closed the town. Tourists used to be allowed to swim in these hot springs, but now it’s been outlawed and tourism to this attraction has gone downhill in recent years, so that combined with it being the middle of December made us 3 of the very few tourists there.

We found a small hotel, had a bite to eat, and ventured forth to the main attraction. Along with these white calcified hills, behind them lie ancient ruins and a giant amphitheater in a town called Heropolis. The hills looked like a winter wonderland, so pure and white, and it freaked us all out that it wasn’t snow but in fact hardened calcium. We were walking up to the top, and there are all these warm pools of water and streams flwoing down the grade. Eventually I took my shoes off and walked up to the top barefoot.

The Heropolis theater was extremely impressive- I couldn’t believe what great condition it was in. It reminded me a lot of the Acropolis, and it seemed like they could still put on shows and concerts here if they wanted to. We ran around the seating area, took lots of photos, and then examined other ruins and archaeological remains on top of the hill, and came across a couple groups of goats grazing on the scant grass. We ran into some bus tours up there- apparently the bus tour stops at the top and then moves on to another site, depriving the hotels and restaurant in the town below any business. Not a lot of people walk up and down the cliffs like we did.

Walking back down was more difficult- I went barefoot the entire way; by the time I got to the bottom my feet were numb with cold. Jen said she felt like a hobbit. Drying them off and putting my socks back on never felt so good. As we traversed back through the town, every storekeepers and restaurateur would come out of their shop to greet us and try their best to get us inside. When the streets are barren and you’re the only tourists, you stick out like a sore thumb.

Back at the hotel room, which was barely kept warm by a small space heater, the three of us took a nap. I woke up an hour later cold as a hunk of ice, my body shivering and my nose feeling like an icicle had formed on its tip. A second heater would have to be procured. Jen ran into a Canadian fellow and an Australian guy in the hotel’s restaurant, situated on the top floor. We all went out for some dinner and headed back to the hotel for a long, cozy night’s sleep.

On Sunday, Maddy and I were kind of tired and worm out, so we headed back to Izmir while Jen and the two guys we met hitchhiked on tractors to check out some nearby caves. Yes, you read that right- they hitchhiked on tractors.