Tuesday 25 September – Liz: lady of leather, posing at Pamukkale.

We left Izmir early this morning and headed a couple of hundred kilometres east in the direction of Pamukkale.  First stop was a leather factory where we were treated to a fashion parade; seats lined up for us either side of a catwalk, then a dazzling display of lights and sounds as four very attractive models, two male and two female, strutted their stuff showing off beautiful leather jackets and coats, many of them reversible.  A very polished performance.  We were then taken to the huge showroom where hundreds of jackets, coats (men’s and women’s) and handbags were on display.  All of the clothing was made from lambskin, which is much softer and more malleable than cow- or goat-hide.  Elizabeth purchased a beautiful black jacket.

Back on the bus, we continued on and stopped for a  lunch of what our guide Gőkça referred to simply as “small hamburgers”, but the meal in fact comprised small pieces of deliciously tender steak, salad, lightly toasted breads and a spicy capsicum dip - so you assembled your own hamburger.

Our major stop for the day was Pamukkale, or “Cotton Castle”, located on a hill in the River Menderes valley (from which our word “meander” comes, as the river slowly winds its way through the valley).  The area has been famous from archaic times for the carbonated water that has flowed through the area.  First we saw the Greco-Roman ruins of Hierapolis, which may have had a temple from about the 7^th century BCE but was only really established as a spa city in the 2^nd century BCE and became a healing centre, where doctors used the thermal springs as treatments for patients.  It became part of the Roman province of Asia in 133BCE and its magnificent theatre was built in 129CE for a visit by Emperor Hadrian. Like so many similar cities, its fortunes waned and it was eventually abandoned in the late 14^th century and was overgrown.  It was rediscovered in the late 19^th century but excavations did not begin in earnest until the mid-20^th century.  It is now one of the major tourist attractions in Turkey.

We walked through the Frontinus Gate and part-way along the 14-metre wide main street, then up the hill to the shimmering, snow-white limestone, shaped over millennia by calcium-rich springs. Dripping slowly down the vast mountainside, mineral-rich waters foam and collect in terraces, spilling over cascades of stalactites into milky pools below. Legend has it that the formations are solidified cotton (the area’s principal crop) that giants left out to dry.  We took our shoes off and waded through the milky water that still collects in some of the pools (although not as many as in the relatively recent past) and then walked around the perimeter of the area, marvelling at the startling white, ice-like coverage of the mountainside.

We finally descended and, after just a short drive, checked into our delightful Hotel Doga, where Elizabeth presented her own fashion parade (for a captivated audience of one), then a walk through the local street market before another delicious buffet dinner..