Cotton Castles and Whirling Dervishes

This leg of our Turkey trip covers Pamukkale and Konya – the cotton-white travertines, Rumi’s tomb, and the long push toward Cappadocia with my parents and 1.5-year-old Parth.

Day 4: Pamukkale’s Cotton Castle

Last time, we covered the ancient city of Ephesus and had started on our journey to Pamukkale and then Konya. If you haven’t read it yet, no worries – I’ve provided all the links at the bottom of this post.

Our drive to Pamukkale took almost three hours. Our guide, Abdul told us that there were many thermal springs found in this area. The steam was used to generate electricity – we even saw some of these plants on the way. This region was also famous for its cotton – the cotton grown here is considered among the best in the world, only second to the famous Egyptian cotton. In fact, the name Pamukkale itself means “cotton castle” – but that is mainly attributed to the sight that we were about to see.  

Here is a map-view of the journey that we will be covering in today’s post

Soon, we could spot the white mountainside in the distance – it was made of calcium deposits. The continuous flow from the thermal springs would keep it white, as more calcium dissolved and then solidified as it flowed down. 

We climbed up the hill (at least our bus did) and we reached the common gate for Pamukkale and Hierapolis. Right next to the white pools of water were the ancient ruins of yet another Greek city, which ultimately became a huge necropolis. There was a helicopter tour ongoing – Parth was super fascinated looking at it flying in the sky. There were paragliders flying down from the very top of the mountain over the ancient city ruins and the calcium pools. Must have been an awesome view.

We first went to the source pool area – where the hot water was coming out from the hill as a spring. It was almost blue-green in colour. It wasn’t as salty as we had expected. People were chilling in the pool – like a lazy pool.

Walked around, then went to the museum which had some of the significant finds from Hierapolis. There were some sculptures and tombs.

We then reached the water area, Parth changed to his swimwear (which we had bought specifically for this trip). It was beautiful – it looked like we were standing on snow and the entire hillside was covered in snow. If not for the trees and the valleys in the distance, it was easy to convince anyone that we were surrounded by snow! 

Parth loved the water – he splashed around, got completely wet and kept going deeper. 

A few levels deeper, the pools got clearer and less crowded. The initial levels were also slippery due to algae but the later ones were good. We clicked a ton of pictures. Parth did not want to leave at all – kept pulling us back in. Even found an anna to play with! 

We stayed till sunset – it was a really nice view – the sun created a golden line around the clouds as it set behind the hills. The valley stretched into the distance with dense trees in some stretches. As soon as the sun set, we could see lights in the cities all around. The places we thought were empty valleys turned out to be towns and cities! The closest was a big one called Denizli, where we would stay that night.

On the way back, Abdul told us that due to a shortage in groundwater, water is pumped artificially nowadays to keep the process of calcium dissolving and depositing alive and maintain the formations in its white colour – otherwise, it would turn into a grey piece of stone. That was pretty sad to hear – but we were glad that the government was doing something about it.

Our hotel was called Polat Thermal Hotel near Pamukkale – they had thermal pools inside. It was a decent hotel. But we were super tired and had an 8 hour drive planned for the next day. So we just had dinner and slept – the thermal pool would have to wait for another time. Dinner was okay, not great. The usual spread of hundreds of permutations and combinations of the same 2-3 ingredients – true for salads, cheese, breads and desserts. 

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Day 5: Konya, Sultanhanı & the Road to Cappadocia

It was the day everyone was dreading – the super long drive from Pamukkale to Cappadocia. Abdul started the day off with his usual “Laaa laaaa (that was his equivalent to “mic testing”). Good morning, good morning, good morning, Günaydın, Günaydın, good morning, my dear guests. Happy Sunday, 20th November 2022. Today is happy Sunday” (he always kept mixing up the months, dates and years – which was always funny). 

Crossing the Anatolian Plateau

Our first stop was a garment factory – mostly cotton. It had bedding linen, clothes and export rejects of many luxury brands for super cheap prices. These stops are always part of group tours and something that we skip through as fast as we can. We left soon and started our long drive. 

We crossed the Taurus mountains onto the Anatolian plateau. There were agricultural fields all around for miles and miles. We passed by many orchards – olives, apricots, cherries, apples and pomegranates.

We stopped at a restaurant in a place called Dinar – was more of a restroom break. They were serving yogurt and honey. Super thick yogurt and even thicker honey! It seemed super weird, but weirdly enough, it was an amazing combo! We’ve tried recreating it back home in India but both the yogurt and honey could not match up in terms of the taste and texture.

Konya: Rumi’s Tomb & the Whirling Dervishes

Next stop was Konya – the capital of the Seljuk Turks. To me, this was the most surprising city of our entire trip! I didn’t expect such a clean and developed city right in the center of Turkey.

We had just crossed hours and hours of open land with nothing but fields and barren land – we should have been in the middle of nowhere. But here was a city that was very clean, well planned and beautifully maintained – super impressive! In fact, it felt like a small European town!

We had lunch – soup (dal basically), lahmacun (check out the Istanbul blog for more details), cag kebab (was more like chicken stir fry).

After lunch, we walked over to the biggest attraction of the city – Rumi’s tomb. The legendary scholar and sufi mystic, Rumi spent the last years of his life in this region and was laid to rest in Konya. Rumi was also the one who started the order of the iconic Whirling Dervishes – he used to do it as a form of meditation. We saw the tombs, praying area and music area and paid our respects.

Parth ran around the park, chased an anna so far away that his parents had to run behind to make sure he didn’t go outside the gate!

Sultanhanı Caravanserai: A Silk Road Stop

We got back on our bus and after a 1.5 hour drive, we reached Sultanhanı Caravanserai. It used to be a traveller’s inn when the Silk Road was active. Abdul told us that the main doors would open at sunrise and close at sunset.

It was a safe haven for caravans of people and their animals – from both robbers as well as nature. Inside the main gate, there was a huge open area – this is where people and animals would stay during the summer. In the middle of this courtyard was a building – the stay area during winters when it would get really cold outside. It was beautifully lit up inside with many carpets on display.

It was a fascinating experience to imagine ancient travellers from faraway lands staying here before moving on to their next stop.

It was dark by now and we continued for the last leg of our drive – another 2.5 hours to Cappadocia. It had been 2 long days starting at Pamukkale and ending at Cappadocia.

Pamukkale and Konya: Quick Answers

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Check out all the other Turkey blogs right here:

• The Turkey Itinerary – planning a perfect trip to the crossroads of Asia and Europe
• Lahmacun, Pide and Kunefe – Eating our way through Istanbul
• Unfinished business in Istanbul and an Earthquake – unforgettable experiences
• Troy, a giant horse and forgotten Greek cities in Turkey – exactly what it sounds like
• Fairy Chimneys, Windy Days and Atatürk – the fascinating world of Cappadocia, a salt lake and the capital city of Ankara

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