Travertine Terraces at Pamukkale

I was struggling my way up the slope of Pamukkale, not because it was steep, not because it was slippery but because it was hard to walk barefoot here. This first world problem of mine I would have to bear with for the rest of the visit but I try to make the most of the situation. An initial look of the site would make you think that this is a great place. But if you look more, you see stuff that probably shouldn’t be. The while there is a lot of water flowing down the slopes. A lot of the water is actually being channeled to a canal to “protect” the site. I don’t know how effective this is but it is the way it is.

Not all of the water is fed through the canal. There is still water that is allowed to go to the travertine terraces which this place is famous for. The individual terrace can be large and knee deep full of water. The excess water just spills out and is caught by the canals. The water is pleasantly warm because it is fed by underground hot springs. The canals here are enjoyed by visitors because this is where the flow of the water is the strongest. I thought that it would be slippery to be walking here but it actually isn’t. Still, you should be careful walking around here because the canals tend to be built near the edges of the terraces, not to mention that there would be a lot more people here.

[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/Pamukkale.kmz} zoom=19]