Up 8:45am. Left 9:30am.
Beach at 10am that we photographed but didn't go to. [6-13-13 edit: I just realized this is the beach on the cover of Lonely Planet, and is called Kaputaş Beach. So I guess it's well-known.]
At 10:15am we got pulled over by the cops! It was just a random spot check. Şucru was clean.
Lunch stop 2pm. Chicken kebab.
Ibo took a show of hands for the whirling dervish ceremony. It was TL 60. I wasn't interested but everyone else raised their hands, so I went with the flow.
Rode through Denizli. It looked like a big city and then Ibo said it had 500k people.
Arrived at Uyum Hotel at 3:15pm.
Hotel pool.
Pool with travertines in the distance.
I sat by the pool a bit. Others swam.
After talking to a few people, I reneged on the dervishes and told Ibo. Not worth the admission, young people weren't going, it didn't seem interesting, and I could use a full night of sleep (which I hadn't had in weeks).
Perfect time of day to hit the pool, but the timing was bad. We were rushed. Had to go to the travertines. Katie suggested that this tour would be better with double the time in each city.
Feels so good not having to wear shoes and socks for days at a time. Like when I was young in summer. :)
Shortly after 4:30pm we left the hotel and arrived at Hierapolis at 4:45pm.
Gymnasium.
14,000-seat theatre.
Aqueduct.
Museum. That boy is sucking on a cow tit. ECW! ECW! ECW!
Roman bath around the back of the museum.
I sort of wanted to swim in the pool here (thermal pool amid ruins) but it was TL 32. Michelle and Lee did it, but no one else. That was during our "free time" 5:05pm-5:30pm.
I wanted to walk to the necropolis, but there was a shuttle and it pulled up next to be and it was filled with people from the G group, and they convinced me to board. TL 4 return. But I didn't have to pay till the end.
Necropolis.
Necropolis. Sleeping quarters.
Necropolis.
Roman baths.
Travertines from necropolis area.
I can pretty it up on occasion.
Frontinus Street.
Travertines.
The Gates of Hell. We agreed that this wasn't the Gates of Hell that was in the news recently. The latter Gates were just recently discovered.
Theatre.
Theatre.
Lizard at the theatre. This reminds me of the Union of the Snake video, which looks like it was filmed at Pamukkale, but it wasn't.
Theatre.
Theatre.
Theatre ramp.
Theatre concourse.
Theatre.
We saw another G group that was on a Comfort tour, a class that costs more and provides better accommodations and some flights instead of bus rides. Someone said they were snobs. I said they just don't know any better. They're sacrificing the experience. Accommodations shouldn't matter. If you're doing the trip right, the hotel is where you spend 5 hours in drunken slumber every night. If you see a hotel room as any more than that, you're a bad traveller.
THANKS FOR THE ADVICE. See below.
Surface of the travertines. They comprise calcium carbonate deposits bubbling up from the hot springs. Gotta remove shoes here to avoid damaging them.
Travertines.
Travertines and hot springs.
Travertines.
Again, the surface of the travertines. I think Andy was the only one to keep his socks on here, because his feet are delicate.
Travertines.
I SLIPPED ON THE WET CHALK AND FELL ASS-FIRST INTO A CALCIUM CARBONATE POOL AND MY CAMERA DROWNED. Ironically, I didn't lose my camera photos (my SD card was undamaged, and you're seeing those photos here) but I lost ~110 iPhone photos after this point because I deleted them from my iPhone and Photo Stream after downloading them to my laptop, not realizing that deleting them from my Photo Stream also deleted them from my laptop. Fuck. I tried several ways of recovering them from my iPad, iPhone and laptop, but none of them worked. So any photos you see here after this point are the few I posted on Facebook or just accidentally didn't delete. Most of the iPhone photos weren't great, though, and a big chunk were just signs next to ruins at Ephesus and Troy to remind myself of what they were later.
After exploring the travertines, we were met by our minibus, which was taking most of us to dinner and the whirling dervishes ceremony. Kate, Katie, Kent, Lee and I flipped off the bus and went off on our own. To the hotel 8:05pm. Left the hotel 8:30pm. The nearby restaurants were evidently desperate because they ran out to us with photo menus. Lonely Planet recommended Mehmet's and they offered us 10% off, but Mustafa Restaurant matched it and threw in a bottle of wine, and their menu was better. So we ate there. Kate and I had fajitas (with real sour cream!). Lee had spaghetti. I washed it down with a beer and 2 glasses of wine.
On the way back to the hotel I bought 2 more beers, and Katie bought a big Diet Coke to use with her vodka.
Since Lee was with us, we stopped by his and Michelle's room. Michelle said the dervishes were a waste. It cost TL 60 to watch an hour 15 of spinning. Plus the dinner place they went to charged TL 11.50 for beers. We made the right call.
Back to my room around 10:30-10:45pm. My camera was barely responding. I went to the pool to process my notes etc. Everyone else retired to their rooms. Katie said she'd save her vodka for the elusive "big night". Back to my room 11:30pm. After Internet, bed 1am.