Pumakkale Photos


When I got to my hotel, they had no record of my reservation, which I had made just the night before. Furthermore, all the rooms were full. I showed the receptionist, who I think was also the owner, my confirmation and pointed out that I had already paid ten percent as a deposit when I reserved the room. He hemmed and hawed for a few minutes and said that he didn't know what to do. I suggested that maybe he could get me a room at another hotel for the same price. Yes, he said, that's what he would do. He would give me a room at his second hotel, a better room, for the same price and asked me to wait five minutes. A couple came in and tried to check in. The reservations were under the woman's name, Laura, but the receptionist said that there were only two reservations under that name and neither matched her last name.

At this point, I started playing with tiniest little kitten that was sitting in the lobby. After awhile, he was sitting upright on the back of the couch with his eyes closed and he kept starting to fall asleep and fall off the couch before waking up and catching himself. I patted him a few times and told him that he need to lie down if he wanted to sleep. He immediately lay down. I guess he spoke English.

I went back to the counter and asked the receptionist if had arranged a room for me. He said that his second hotel was full, but he would get a room in another hotel and he would pay the difference in price. Just then, a group of four Italian guys showed up. They thought they had booked a private four bed room, but receptionist said that the price they had reserved the room at was the five bed dorm room price and he declared that he had solved the mystery of my reservation. I was the fifth bed in the Italians room. However, the Italians produced a document that showed they had reserved a private room, not beds in a dorm room. The receptionist studied the document and finally told the Italians that the hotel was one person overbooked and asked them if they would be willing to let me stay in their room. They agreed and I was finally able to check in.

Pamukkale is the site of an unusual travertine hot springs formation. It looks like snow from a distance, but it's hard as rock. The Romans must have been fascinated by it because they built a city at the top, Hieropoils. I had been told by other backpackers that during the day, Pumakkale is one big throbbing mass of tourists, but it thins out at night. The springs are lit at night, but the ruins of Hieroplis are not well lit, so I decided to go up just before sunset. That way the tour buses would've already gone home and I would still have time to see Hieropolis before sun went down. There were a few small crowds of people there at sunset, but after darkness settled in, the entire park was totally deserted. I had the whole place to myself. The Turks have built artificial walls into the formation to create wading pools, which I wish they hadn't done, but at the same time, after everyone left, it was quite nice to have my own personal hot tubs with which I could sit and enjoy the view of the city below.