Sightseeing in Pamukkale

The white slope of Pamukkale is neither snow nor chalk but lime. Hot springs emerge at the top of the plateau, the water saturated with carbon dioxide and dissolved calcium carbonate; in the open air the gas escapes, the carbonate precipitates, and over millennia it has built stepped basins running almost a hundred and sixty metres down the hillside. You walk the terraces barefoot — shoes damage the surface, and that is a rule rather than a suggestion.

Above stands Hierapolis, an ancient city that grew around those same springs as a spa. What remains is a theatre on the slope, temple buildings and the largest necropolis in Anatolia: people came here to be cured, and many stayed for good. Beside it lies the Antique Pool, where fallen marble columns rest on the bottom and you can swim right between them, for a separate fee.

All of this is best seen from the air, and there are two ways. The balloon rises before dawn, drifts over the terraces for about an hour, and the flight ends with a certificate; the paraglider launches from the hills above the plateau and works by day. Both depend on wind and are cancelled on weather. Practical notes: there is no shade on the terraces, the water sits around thirty-five degrees, and the stone underfoot is slippery — walk slowly.