The travertines* at Pamukkale.
These limestone formations have been formed over hundreds of thousands of years by the spring waters that emerge from the slopes behind. The springs have been affected from time to time by severe earthquakes but the Turks decided to build some hotels at the top of the hill and this had a drastic effect on the flow of water making the travertines dry up. To overcome this problem, the Turks tore down the hotels and channelled water over the travertines but this had an even more serious effect as it just eroded it away.

*travertine = a white or light-coloured calcareous rock deposited from springs.

The literal translation is Cotton Castle.

This is how the travertines looked when I first visited the area, but now the 'basins' have dried up. Where it was once ok to walk over the whole area in bare feet, this has now been banned and guards are employed to protect the site.

As it used to look!

Me taking a dip in one of the basins.

Me laying on the calcareous limestone rock deposits on my first visit to the area.

An aerial view of the peninsula.

The ruins of the amphitheatre on the outskirts of Side.

The peninsula from the air and showing the amphitheatre.

Side museum can clearly be seen in the bottom right-hand corner of the photo with the arched roofs.

The Museum of Mevlana, The Mevlana Mosque and The Mosque of Sultan Selim.

The Whirling Dervishes dance around in circles for ages without seeming to get giddy.

Taken from my hotel window in the Cappadocia region on the outskirts of the Göreme National Park.

The area between the central Anatolian cities of Kayseri, Nevşehir, Niğde and Aksaray is historically called Cappadocia.

The whole area is quite awesome as one travels from place to place.

Göreme Valley, Nevşehir

Gourd seeds drying in the sun outside a troglodyte type house which has been carved out of the soft tuff rock formations.  These weird rock formations were formed from the result of volcanic eruptions and then erosion by wind and rain.

The rock formations near the town of Uçhisar.

Ortahisar

The town of Ortahisar has been built around this rock massif which rises in the shape of a castle.