If you are a nature lover, Denizli is a must-visit place while you are in Turkey. This place is filled with mysteries of nature, the most popular of which is Pamukkale. We travelled to Denizli from Istanbul by air, which took about an hour. We booked our hotel just beside Pamukkale. A lot of people stay near the city centre of Denizli. Going to a restaurant or getting transport is more convenient from the city centre. But to get Pamukkale’s full experience, we decided to stay near it. Our hotel room had the best view. We checked in just at dawn. With the dying daylights, we could still see the white cotton castle (Pamukkale means cotton castle) from our window. I talked with the guy at reception to know when to visit Pamukkale to get the water and everything. He suggested we should go there around 8 A.M. when the gate opens. Also, we might miss the water stream if we are not early. I have seen online before coming here a lot of people complaining about not getting the full experience of Pamukkale as there was no hot water stream, but there is no way I would miss it. That is why it is always a good idea to talk to local people while travelling to know the exact information.
Woke up at 6:30 because there was another thing to see before going to Pamukkale. That was watching hot air balloons flying over the white lands. Yes, you can take a balloon ride here in Pamukkale as well. However, the operation here is very small. We saw only 3 balloons flying that morning. But the view was worth waking up early for. The sky of the dusk was providing a perfect background for the balloons. Little fog was covering the houses around the area. Took some photos from the window.
It was nearing 8 am, so we got ready as fast as we could. Then started walking towards the Pamukkale entry. We skipped breakfast because that was not our priority. After about 15 minutes walk from the hotel, we reached the entrance. After paying the entry fee, we started to walk on the white rocky road. After the entry gate, there is another barrier before going closer to the water stream. You have to remove your shoes here. This is a very sensible move from the authority to prevent damage to the white layers of the hill. Immediately after, we started to walk on the water stream. The stream was coming down from the top. The water here is warm as it comes from the inside of the mountain. Some geological mechanisms are responsible for the water to get hot enough to boil up and come to the surface. But after a while, when it cools down, the water disappears.
A green leafy tree with a white trunk caught my attention. Took some time here to take photos and videos. We had to be careful walking because the surface felt a bit sharper, and we were barefooted. After climbing up 3 larger basins from below, the water level started to fade. As we got closer to the famous bowl-like basins of Pamukkale, we could see that they were empty. Maybe around this time of year the bowls do not get much water. And because of that, the top of the hill didn’t seem very interesting. There are other places to go from the top of Pamukkale, like Cleopatra Antique Pools & Hierapolis Ancient Theater. But we had other plans, so we decided to climb down.
On our way down, the water stream became almost dormant and the large basins were almost dry. Only the bottom basin had some water. When we were collecting our shoes from the entry barrier, we met an older lady who was just going inside. She asked us about the experience, but we had to disappoint her by saying there was no water anymore.
What to Wear:
As you can see from the photos I have shared, the landscape here is dominantly white, blue and some turquoise. Our dress choices were predetermined, and we were happy with them. But if you go there in the afternoon, you may go with red or orange as well.
Photography Tip:
One mistake I made here was not taking my lens filters. It was hard to control the strong sunlight, so that is something you should keep in mind. There are a few places you are not allowed to step foot due to conservatory reasons, so you should respect that as well.
