Pamukkale, Hierapolis and Laodikea

A few weeks ago, we set off on holiday. It was a 500 mile journey from our home to our holiday rental. We'd already been discussing breaking up the journey on the way and when we were researching our route beforehand and saw that our route took us within 15 miles of Pamukkale-Hierapolis, it was a no-brainer. How often do you find that your route takes you very close to a place that often makes it onto lists of 'top places to see before you die'?!

Our journey to Pamukkale-Hierapolis there took us all day and was a little like a tour of Biblical places in and of itself. We drove through Cappadocia, the city of Konya (known as Iconium in Biblical times), passed close by to the ruins of Pisidian Antioch, and also passed close to the unexcavated site of Colossae.

Driving through Cappadocia early in the morning

And then we got to Pamukkale-Hierapolis. We camped for a couple of nights right up on top of a hill overlooking the Colossae-Laodikea plain, within 5 minutes drive of Pamukkale-Hierapolis - it was as we were driving for what seemed like ages up a steep, narrow road that we realised that booking camping at a campsite called 'Hill Camping' should have been a giveaway as to the type of location. 

And sunset when we arrived

Very close to Pamukkale-Hierapolis are the ruins of the ancient city of Laodikea - which you probably know as Laodicea. Unfortunately sited in an earthquake zone, the ancient city got ruined and then restored plenty of times. We got there early enough that we were the only people there when we arrived at 8am. It's a large site and a lot of it is still unexcavated, but it was a fun place to wander round. As always, touring historical sites with small children is both a blessing and a curse. We love that we get to introduce them to ancient sites (even though we worry that J, at 4 years old, is a bit blase about ancient sites already) and hear their commentary (as J points to an Ionic pillar top and said it looks like a cinnamon roll...). We love that we can show them that Christianity is a tangibly historical religion as we point out the baptistry in the ruins of an ancient church. And yet we also know that the children's limited attention spans means that our visits tend to be somewhat more fleeting than we might like them to be. Overall, though, we really enjoy taking our children to ruins - and they enjoy the visits too.

Exploring the ruins of Laodikea

Laodikea road

A restored archway

One of the churches (partly restored) in Laodikea, with some amazing mosaics. It's from about 300AD.

And then there was Pamukkale-Hierapolis. Pamukkale means "cotton castle" in Turkish and its famous for thermal waters which flow down white travertine (a form of limestone) terraces. The ruins of Hierapolis, an ancient Roman city, are so close to Pamukkale that they form one site together. Not only is Pamukkale-Hierapolis a UNESCO World Heritage site, Hierapolis is also reputed to be the place of Philip's martyrdom (although according to what I've read, it's not exactly clear which New Testament Philip this was).

As we knew the weather was going to be hot and there would be no shade, we visited very early in the morning and arrived at the Hierapolis necropolis at 7.15am. We walked about an hour through the ruins of tombs before getting to the Pamukkale side and spending some time exploring that part. After the swimming pool at the campsite the previous day, the boys were rather unimpressed with the thermal pools. As the weather was getting rather hot by then, we skipped most of the Hierapolis ruins and were back at the campsite taking down our tent by 11am!

Arriving at the Pamukkale side

Pamukkale 

And then it was on to our 'proper' holiday over on the Aegean coast...