Near Denizli is Pamukkale (which is Turkish for little cotton castle) with its 300 m wide lime sinter terraces (41 kB). There is a spring with water being 36°C hot and containing a lot of lime and carbon. While the water flows down about 100 m to the level??, the lime gets separated and forms many overlaying basins (41 kB).
When I was here first in 1990, you could still move around freely on the terraces and step inside the basins. In the long run, this would have damaged completely this wonder of nature. This is why today only certain areas (42 kB) may be walked on. Even the road leading from the level up to the terraces does no longer exist. There are now only two hotels left up there. You can go in there and bathe in the hot spring water even when not spending the night.
The spring water is now canalized (67 kB) and let out over certain areas. That's the reason why today you can see empty basins (41 kB).
Even back in the ancient world, people came to Hierapolis to bathe in these hot springs. The way Hierapolis looks today dates back to Roman times. The amphitheatre (66 kB) with its 50 rows and 100 m length is very impressive. The stage wall (67 kB) used to be 4 m high.
At the end of the arcade street (40 kB) is the Domitian gate (37 kB). Going through it, you'll end up in the necropole of Hierapolis. Being 1 km long and housing 1200 tombs, it is one of the biggest and best kept necropolies in the Ancient World. Some of the tombs look like houses (50 kB), others like sarcophaguses (69 kB).
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last update: 24.11.1999