Best of Pamukkale and Hierapolis,Turkey

Pamukkale

Pamukkale, 18 km (11 miles) north of Denizli, isTurkey's foremost mineral-bath spa because of itsnatural beauty: hot calcium-laden waters spring from the earth and cascade over a cliff. 

Pamukkale, meaning “cotton castle” in Turkish, is a natural site in Denizli Province in southwestern Turkey. The city contains hot springs and travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. As they cool they form dramatic travertines of hard, brilliantly white calcium that form pools.

      Pamukkale is a tourist attraction. It is recognized as a World Heritage Site together  with Hierapolis. Hierapolis-Pamukkale was made a World Heritage Site in 1988.

The underground volcanic activity which causes the hot springs also forced carbon dioxide into a cave, which was called the Plutonium meaning place of the god, Pluto. This cave was used for religious purposes by priests of Cybele, who found ways to appear immune to the suffocating gas.

 Hierapolis museum

Hierapolis "Holy City") was an ancient city located on hot springs in classical Phrygia in southwestern Anatolia. Its ruins are adjacent to modern Pamukkale in Turkey and currently comprise an archaeological museum designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Once a Roman bath, the Archeological Museum is near the Antique Pool atop the travertines at Pamukkale.

The large building is a 2nd-century Roman baths and gymnasium made of local tawny travertine ashlars once covered with polychrome marble. One of the impressivebarrel vaults fell in a 4th-century earthquake, and was replaced with one of brick.

The Hierapolis Archaeology Museum is surrounded by natural wonders and ancient sites and consists of several sections such as the Statues and Sarcophagi Gallery, Small Artifacts Gallery, Theatre Ruins Gallery and a garden section.

roman amphitheater of hierapolis