The Boswells in Europe

After leaving the museum in Ephesus it was back on to our 5 horse power bus and on to Pamukkale. What we didn't realise when we booked the trip was that Pamukkale was a further three hours drive from Ephesus...and in a bus with no air con on a stinking hot day with seats for anorexics made a very uncomfortable drive!

The view from our hotel. Dinner the previous night was an experience. As you walked in you would be pounced upon by a couple photographers who's only interest was in getting the lens as close to your face as possible! The photos were for sale the next morning in reception (sale or ransom, we couldn't work out which!)

Pamukkale, Turkish for Cotton Castle, is awesome! One of the few places in the world where calcium deposits on such a massive scale still exists.

Tourism hasn't been kind to Pamukkale though. Before Pamukkale became a World Heritage site hotels were built at the top and the calcium laden water was diverted to fill swimming pools. However once it became a World Heritage site the hotels were pulled down and now water is managed in a much better fashion (water flows down one side in the morning and the other in the afternoon).

The result of thousands of years of calcium deposts behind Eimii.

What you lookin at Willis?!?

This part was really pretty, with water cascading down the slope to the pools at the bottom.

Above Pamukkale is an ancient city called Hierapolis. Some of the ruins were destroyed when hotels were built there. One of the remnants of those hotels was this pool, which was left after the hotel was pulled down by UNESCO.

But when its nearly 40 degrees the last thing you want is to have a swim in water that's 37 degrees!

Pamukkale also has one of the worlds largest Necropolis. The tombs date back thousands of years but what was most interesting was that each of the tombs had massive holes in the sides of them (from grave robbers). There is also a lot of work being done around the site by archeologists.