PAMUKKALE

Pamukkale means "cotton castle" in Turkish, and when you see this area, right beside the ancient city of Hierapolis, you can see where the name comes from. At a distance, the hillside looks like it is covered with snow, but when you get closer, you can see it is travertine, terraces of carbonate minerals. It is beautiful, with shallow mineral pools that are an amazing color of blue. People have been bathing in these mineral pools for thousands of years.
The government actually allowed hotels to be built here, over the ruins of Hierapolis, and an approach road built over the terraces. When the area was declared a heritage site, the hotels and the road were demolished.