Taste his Nalanshiqi's craftsmanship. So Nalanshiqi and Yunluo had a second dinner and tasted Turkey's more famous wine, rakiraki, called lion's milk, which is very hard to drink. After dinner, rest, tomorrow is a day worth looking forward to. Pamukkale Pamukkale-Hierapolis.

Today, Nalanshiqi and Yunluo mainly visited Pamukkale, including Hierapolis and calcified pools. The two attractions are together and can be reached on foot from the hotel where Nalanshiqi and Yunluo stayed. Since the content is relatively large, Yunluo is divided into two parts for introduction.

[Attraction Description] Pamukkale is located in Denizli Province in southwestern Turkey. It is named after the place that looks like a snow-white castle. Pamukkale is 160 meters high and 2,700 meters long. The city is rich in hot springs and limestone caves, and the springs flow in terraces rich in carbonate minerals.

The famous ancient city of Hierapolis is located on the top of Pamukkale, where you can see the temples and baths from the Roman period. The climate is mild for most of the year. Pamukkale is a famous tourist attraction in Turkey. There are only a few places in the world with similar landscapes.

These include the Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park in the United States and Huanglong in China. Pamukkale and the ancient city of Hierapolis on top of it were jointly listed as World Heritage Sites in 1988. Before being listed as a World Heritage Site, Pamukkale was neglected in the last few decades of the 20th century. Hotels were built in the scenic area and the water from the hot springs was used to fill the hotel's swimming pool.

The pools are dry. Wastewater from hotels is causing brown spots on the white rocks. An airport runway has been built on Pamukkale. Tourists walk directly on the rocks in shoes, bathe in hot springs with soap and shampoo, and even ride bicycles or motorbikes up and downhill. Pamukkale is losing its former charm as a World Heritage Site.

The Turkish government subsequently stepped up protection measures to restore Pamukkale to its original appearance. Hotels were demolished, and the roads leading up and down Pamukkale were covered with artificial pools, requiring visitors to enter the site barefoot. The rocks with brown spots were not covered by water. Instead, they were exposed to the sun to whiten the rocks, so the pools were dry.

Hierapolis (Greek: ?ep?πoλi?) is an ancient Greek city on top of hot springs, located in southwestern Turkey, near Denizli. Hierapolis and Pamukkale are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The hot springs here have been used for health treatment since the 2nd century BC, and people came here to treat their ailments.

Many of them retired or died here. The vast cemetery is filled with sarcophagi, including that of Marcus Aurelius. A waterwheel is also a sight to behold. The great baths were built with huge blocks of stone without cement, and consisted of open or closed components connected together. The interior of the baths had deep niches and served as closed or open spaces such as libraries, gymnasiums, etc.

This complex was built in the 2nd century BC and is a model of vaulted architecture. The complex is now an archaeological museum. [Start of the trip] Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo woke up in the morning and looked at the calcification pool in the distance from the hotel. They were looking forward to today's trip. After packing up, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo went to the upper floor for breakfast. There is a terrace here, which is very beautiful.

Yunluo will give more details about this hotel in the [Accommodation] section of the [Practical Guide] later. After dinner, the hotel owner sent a car to take Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo to the main entrance of the scenic spot. The entrance and exit are 3 kilometers away, on the mountain.

This is the entrance and ticket office. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo didn't rush in. There was a small hill next to it. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo walked up to take a look. When they reached the hill, they could see farther. Many tour groups came. These tour groups should have come from Denizli in the morning.

Here is a map of the scenic area. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo are now at the south gate below. To the east of the scenic area are the ruins of Hierapolis, and to the west are the famous calcified pools. The ticket is 30 liras (90 RMB) per person. Buy a ticket and enter. Entering the south gate, Yunluo climbed up the stone gate. You can see that the main road to the left is towards the calcified pool.

If you want to go to Hierapolis, you need to take the mountain road on the right. In fact, there are many dirt roads below. The road that Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo took was deserted. Later, they saw a Korean team taking another road up the mountain. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo even doubted whether this was a dead end road.

But later, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo found that all roads lead to Rome. After walking a short distance, they could already see many ancient sites. Hierapolis was built in 190 BC. (Qin Shihuang unified China in 221 BC, and 190 BC was the reign of Emperor Hui of Han, the son of Liu Bang of the Western Han Dynasty), by King Eumenes II of Pergamum.

It was once a sanatorium. It prospered during the Roman Empire and became even more prosperous during the Byzantine Empire, when most of the population was Jewish and Orthodox Christians. Frequent earthquakes brought disasters, and after a major earthquake in 1334, Hierapolis was finally abandoned. There are snails on the road!

Almost stepped on it! Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo ran straight to the magnificent Roman Theater. The Roman Theater was magnificent and built by Emperors Hadrian and Septimius Severus, and could accommodate more than 12,000 spectators. Most of the stage, some decorative panels, and the VIP "box" seats in the front row have been preserved.

The theater has a very good echo effect. When Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo were visiting, there happened to be a Korean group. The tour guide led everyone to clap rhythmically. As a result, they found that the echo of clapping could be heard from all directions in the theater, as if many people were clapping. It was magical! After visiting the Roman Theater, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo did not go down the mountain with the tourists.

Instead, we continued to look for new historical sites along another road up the mountain. In the distance was the Martyrium of St Philip the Apostle. This road looked not far away, but it actually took a long time to walk in twists and turns. Looking back, no one followed Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo, only bare trees.

Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo came to the place where the Apostle Saint Philip was martyred. There are intricate octagonal structures on the ground here. It is said that Saint Philip was martyred here. There are cross marks on the arches of the 8 independent auditoriums. The interior was originally heptagonal. This photo was taken from the ground level, and the octagon cannot be seen, so Yunluo decided to climb to a higher place.

This is from the hill next to it. You can see the whole martyrdom site. But you still can't tell it's an octagon. So Yunluo decided to climb to that high ground to have a look. Finally, you can see the octagon, but unfortunately the lens is not wide enough. Just make do with it! There are many different records about St. Philip from ancient sources.

An apocryphal ancient source claims that when Philip died, a gaping abyss opened up in the ground, swallowing up the Roman governor, snake worshippers, their temples, and an estimated 7,000 hapless onlookers. In August 2011, the body of Saint Philip was discovered in a Byzantine building excavated by Italian archaeologists.

About 40 meters from the martyrdom site, this sensational news has rekindled people's interest in St. Philip and Hierapolis. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo began to go down the mountain. The white scenery in the distance was the calcified pool. On the way down the mountain, they passed a place called St. Philip's Gate, but there was no "gate" anymore.

Coming down from the mountain, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo came to the Temple of Apollo, where the original appearance was basically unseen. There were still relatively clear words on the stones here, but no one knew what they meant. At the foot of the mountain, next to the calcified pool was the ancient swimming pool, with a water temperature of 36 degrees and rich minerals in the water.

There is also a public swimming pool next to it, but it costs 7.5 lira (22.5 RMB) to enter. There are many people inside, all of them are foreigners. There are many places to rest next to the swimming pool, and there are restaurants for eating. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo looked at it and thought it was expensive, so they rested here for a while and then continued to visit.

After resting, Nalanshiqi and Yunluo did not go to the calcification pool, but went north to visit the remaining ruins of Hierapolis. There was a church here, but now only rubble can be seen. Continuing south, here is the Arch of Domitian, and the road through the gate is the ancient commercial axis.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

This is an ancient public toilet. Continue walking north, out of this ancient commercial street, a cemetery appears in front of you. The ground is full of coffins of all sizes. This kind of coffin is a duplex structure! Some are engraved with dense text. The whole picture of the cemetery. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo returned along another road parallel to the ancient commercial street of Hierapolis.

This road leads directly to the calcified pool. The greenery is very good. The scenery on both sides is completely different from the ancient ruins. There are large areas of greenery. On the left is Hierapolis, and on the right is the calcified pool. Many people play paragliding here. You can see the entire landscape. It looks very good, but I heard that you need to make an appointment in advance.

Continue walking forward, there are all kinds of flowers and plants on the roadside, as well as streams flowing down from the mountains. Going further, you will finally see the legendary calcification pool. People here cannot walk up, but can only walk along the path on the side until you reach an open place where people are allowed to enter.

Due to poor protection at the beginning, many places are not so white. Walking further, you can see a group of people in the distance, which is where tourists are allowed to enter. There is water here. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo are ready to enter and need to take off their shoes, but Yunluo thinks that this entrance looks really dirty! (To be continued...)