Looking Down at the Theater at Hierapolis
I think I was making good time in my visit to Pamukkale. There isn’t really that much to see apart from the actual travertine terraces. The place isn’t that big and can be easily visited in an hour. However, right beside Pamukkale is another site, which together with Pamukkale, is inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage list. The ruins of Hierapolis are reminder of what used to be a major city here in Pamukkale. It used to be an old Phrygian settlement eventually became Greek, then Roman, then Ottoman. Throughout the centuries it was valued for its thermal springs, the same springs which gave birth to Pamukkale.
Scaenae Frons at the Theater at Hierapolis
The Romans have had the largest impact on the site of Hierapolis, or at least then have a lot of structures which remain visible to this day. As you might expect of a major city, Hierapolis is a sprawling one and there are several sites worth visiting here. While, I would very much like to visit all the important ones, I can only afford to visit a handful of them right now. It was already approaching noon and it was getting very hot. The ruins are all open air sites and there is absolutely no shelter here. Fortunately, I brought an umbrella with me and I used it to shelter from the sun, much to the envy of the other visitors. There are guide posts to the most important sights, I decided to go visit one of the easier ones to visit – the Theater.
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