Cotton Castle — travertine thermal terraces, the ancient spa city of Hierapolis, and calcium-white pools at dusk
Pamukkale (Turkish: 'Cotton Castle') is a natural site in Denizli Province, western Turkey, where calcium-rich thermal spring water has deposited travertine terraces over millennia — cascading white limestone pools filled with warm mineral water, stacked down a hillside 160 metres above the valley below. The terraces are a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared with the ruins of the Greco-Roman spa city of Hierapolis, built directly on the calcium plateau from the 2nd century BCE. Ancient Greeks and Romans came to Hierapolis for the thermal waters, which were believed to have healing properties —…
Hierapolis was founded as a Seleucid royal city around 190 BCE, named after the Amazon queen Hiera, wife of King Telephus. It passed to the Kingdom of Pergamon and then Rome in 133 BCE, growing rapidly as a spa city during the Roman Imperial period when the baths and colonnaded streets were built. The Apostle Philip is said to have been martyred in Hierapolis around 80 CE; the Martyrium of St. Philip (a large octagonal church built on the site of his death) is a significant early Christian monument. Major earthquakes in 17 CE and 60 CE damaged the city; each time it was rebuilt with imperial…