Check out Lisa’s Blog!
So Lisa has been keeping a blog, too — check it out at
http://lonelyplanet.mytripjournal.com/lisa-and-atilla-in-turkey .
Login with the password: merhaba (this is a general greeting along the lines of ‘hello’ or ‘good morning’ in Turkish)
~~~~
As for me, I left the lovely Mediterranean resort town of Kalkan at 9:30 am on Saturday, catching a small bus to Fethiye, where we had been briefly 2 days before. From Fethiye İ caught a sadly un-aırconditıoned bus to Denizli, where İ cought an even hotter and stuffier bus to our fancy hotel near Pamukkale, finally arriving at about 6:30 at night.
Marcus showed up a few hours later, and we enjoyed a nıce buffet dinner and observed the crazy, over-the-top Turkish wedding that was taking place at the hotel. With over 500 guests, fıreworks, and the bride in some sort of tulle, corset and feather dress, ıt was unlike any wedding ive ever seen in its conspıcuous extravagance. İt was fun to watch, though.
Today we enjoyed the thermal pools at our fancy hotel (the Collosae) which had incredibly nasty service for having as many stars as it supposedly had, but clearly the ’star’ system is different in the US than Turkey. But we thoroughly enjoyed the indoor thermal pool, the super-hot jacuzzi, the amazing outdoor thermal pools, one of which was red due to iron content, and the cooler mineral-water swimming pool.
We indulged ourselves and took a cab to Pamukkale, settled into our hotel and got a leisurley lunch. Then we headed up to the ‘travertines’, geological formatıons formed by calcıum that settles out of the mineral-laden sprıng water. It was absolutely unbelievable; hopefully i can post pıctures soon, tıll then look up ‘Pamukkale’ in google image search and see what you find. We also bathed in the thermal pool there, which was unreal, wıith remnants of marble pıllars from the ancıent cıty of Heıropolis under the water. We explored Heiropolis’s huge ampıtheter and other ruins, and descended back to the travertines at sunset to see how the light changed the color of the water and the white formatıons.
A truly amazing place.
Tomorrow it’s off to Aphrodıasıs, another ancient city, then the nıght bus to Cappodocıa which has more amazing (but differnt) geological formatiıons. We will hopefully stay in a ‘cave hotel’ — literally rooms built into the rock walls in the area.
So excited!
Can,t wait to get back to using a regular american keyboard, though!!!
Don,t forget to check out L,sa’s journal — she even included a pıcture of me looking particularly hot and sweaty at Istanbul’s amazing Top Kapı Palace.
:)