The title isn’t really clickbait. If you search online, you will see what I am talking about. For some weird reason, Lake Salda of Denizli, Turkey, has a geological resemblance to the Red Planet. But that is not the reason we went there. We went there just to see the beauty of the place. In our research before going to Turkey, we saw a few mentions of Salda Lake. But the photos we saw online were enough to inspire our nature-loving hearts.
In my previous article on Pamukkale, I mentioned that we didn’t go to places beyond the Cotton Castle because we had other plans. Lake Salda was that plan, and it was worth every penny to go there.
How We Went There:
There are buses that take you closer to Lake Salda from Denizli city. But these buses are not so frequent. Besides, we were on a tight schedule. The taxi driver who drove us from Denizli airport to Pamukkale was really friendly. He couldn’t speak English, so he used Google Translate to talk with us on his mobile phone screen. While talking, he offered to drive us anywhere after Pamukkale. So we decided to hire him for the ride the next day and kept his phone number.
Our driver, Mr. Levant came to pick us up the next morning exactly on time. But we weren’t ready. We were just getting down from Pamukkale and still had to have breakfast. It was around 10:30 in the morning when we finally got to start our journey. The road to Salda was so scenic I wanted to stop at so many spots for some photoshoots. Unfortunately, the time wouldn’t allow me. There were crop fields, forests, mountains with snowy tops, and a lot of things I could have captured if only I had a few hours more to burn. After about 1 and half hour drive, we reached the magical lake Salda.
Exploring Salda Lake:
There is no entry fee or anything to get inside the boundaries. The weather was nice and warm. With more than 40 kilometers of surface area, it is hard to explore the entirety of Salda in a few hours. But explored as much as we could. We found a nice white rocky area near the entrance that served really well for some photography. We met two lovely young ladies enjoying the lake at that spot. I don’t know if they were photographers themselves or models. They were so enthusiastic to set us up for a couple photo. I was setting up the frame, and both of them were really busy grooming my wife. She wore a long gown before coming here, which was not easy to manage for a photo. Those two Turkish ladies helped to set her dresses from top to bottom. After I set the frame & camera with my tripod, I told one of them to press the click button. And the result was perfect!
While traveling to Turkey, I found Turkish people to be friendly overall. They don’t mind a little chat on the road with you. We walked for about half an hour along the shore of the lake. There are places with black sand, and our driver told us this sand is very famous among people as a skin care material. So much so that the authorities put a ban on taking black sand from here. There is a little park with trees & benches near the gate. We took our last glimpse of this blue paradise sitting there.
What to Wear:
The colors here are almost the same as in Pamukkale—dominantly blue, white, and some green. I didn’t change my attire after Pamukkale, but my wife did. I wanted her to wear her pink gown for this place to add some contrast to my photos. So, yeah, any strong color would suit here, as the background has this white glow to it.
