Aphrodisias

Hierapolis

Romans liked so much Pamukkale and its hot water vertue that they build a huge city on top of it. You can see here a map of what the city looked like.

Unfortunately, the city had been destroyed by an earthquake and only ruins remain. The most interesting part is the amphitheater and its stage.

Here, the stairway to heaven...

Next, the wonderful city of Aphrodisias...

Pamukkale

This is the most well-known picture of this site. Does it look like ice or snow to you ? In fact this is limestone, dropped over hundreds of years by a hot spring. It has created naturel pools of hot water (about 37 Celsius degrees or 90 Fahrenheit).

The water is very famous for its therapeutic benefits.

Pamukkale (Cotton castle in Turkish) has been unfortunately destroyed by the tourism. A lot of hotels had been build on the site. This reduced the amount of water irrigating to the pools and little by little, the pools disappeared.

But, since it became part of the UNESCO patrimony, hotels have been destroyed. We just have to wait for mother Nature to do its works,slowly...

You can imagine the blast for the kids, a natural water park!

Then, we went, with bare feet, climbing to the top, through bassins and little waterways. In front of us, the big pools that are today unfortunately inaccessible.

 Maelle, Paul and Baptiste had a lot of fun. They really enjoyed climbing and playing in the water.

Next time, we will bring our bathing suit.

On top of the hill, we had the opportunity to visit Hierapolis, an ancient roman city... It will be our next post.

Is there a better way to start the week-end?

On our way to Pamukkale, we stopped by a local restaurant to enjoy a traditionnal turkish meal: the Gozleme.
We just took a seat and looked at the cooker preparing it for us.
1st: She prepares the dough (sort of very thin crust)
2nd: She fills it with different ingredients (patato or spinach or cheese or meat with aromats like mint)
3rd: She bakes it
4th: You enjoy this delicious meal

Gozleme is very popular in Turkey and part of the tradition. Turkish people seems to really enjoy their sunday with friends or family around a table for a long brunch. You drink (of course) tea and fresh orange juice and eat gozleme.

Special Dedication for Stefano & Conrad

Antalya hosted the World Fencing championship. Very good training for the London 2012 Olympics...

France didn't do so great this time and the best nation have been Italy... We will get our revange in London.

 Kids were REALLY interested in the event...

... not always in fact

It was also the opportunity to meet some stars and...

... to support our national team.

OK, Maelle is wearing a special 4th of July T-shirt offered by Valaya but France & USA have the same colors !!!

Stefano, see you in 2012 for the revenge...

Hiking in the surroundings of Antalya

We're leaving this week-end for Pamukkale, more Turkish delights to come...

Before that, we went hiking last week-end in the surrounding area of Antalya looking for a desert & private beach...

After a couple of hours walk, we found it

We enjoyed a nice meal (pique-nique) and of course a little swim.

The way back has been more difficult. A lot of energy have been spend during these 7 miles walk and swim. And belive it or not, it still pretty warm here... We really appreciate the little drink at the terrase of a cafe (except the fresh pomegrade juice).

Special Helper

Maelle knows that our Turkish is limited...
So when she's back from school with a new supply list, she takes time to translate it into English !!!

Cappadocia, Churches

Last post about Cappadocia, not that we don't have anything else to show you but, it's time to close the book and open new adventures.
The last post is about the caved churches of Cappadocia.