Pamukkale, 18 km (11 miles) north of Denizli (map), isTurkey's foremost mineral-bath spa because of itsnatural beauty: hot calcium-laden waters spring from the earth and cascade over a cliff. As they cool they form dramatic travertines of hard, brilliantly white calcium that form pools.
Named the Cotton Fortress (pah-MOOK-kah-leh) in Turkish, it has been a spa since the Romans built the spa city of Hierapolis around a sacred warm-water spring. TheAntique Pool is still there, littered with marble columns from the Roman Temple of Apollo. You can swim in it for a fee.
In the 1990s the local authorities undertook adevelopment campaign meant to improve the spa and increase tourism. Misconceived in some ways, the development, along with changes in Turkey's entire tourism picture, resulted in fewer visitors.
As you enter Pamukkale Town in a car, local men on motor scooters will race after you, catch you, and gesture to you to stop your car. When you do, thinking there is perhaps something wrong with your vehicle, or a dangerous situation ahead, you will discover that they only want to sell you something.
They will ask if you need a hotel, restaurant, souvenir, carpet, etc. If you need any of these services, they will lead you to them and probably take a commission for their efforts. This may or may not affect the price you pay, I don't know—but I suspect it doesn't lower it. Although they are only trying to make a living, and in some cases to help visitors find things, I find them a nuisance as they will not let you go until they have made their pitch.
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