Ancients used “Cotton Castle” for supernatural healing

PAMUKKALE, Turkey — At the edge the Pamukkale village, visitors encounter a mesa covered in a white rock that I still can’t convince my parents is not ice.

For 400,000 years, the edges of these naturally made white “pools” of rock appear to spill over like beer foam on the brim of a glass, one after another cascading down the steep hills overlooking the houses below.

These white rock formations, known as travertines, are unique in the entire world.   Steamy hot water spews forth from a spring and other fissures at the top and flow downhill.  Emerging from the earth at temperatures between 95 and 130 degrees Fahrenheit, the waters cool on their way down leaving hardened white calcium deposits in their wake.  The Turks gave the formation the name Pamukkale, or cotton castle. 

We made our off-season hike up the travertines on one of Turkey’s cooler days.  We began our shoeless ascent up the ivory cliffs feeling a chill in our bones.  Turkey banned shoes to protect further degradation of the deposits.  However, that chill didn’t last as we crossed two warm sapphire pools.  Staring into these placid mirrors, you could see the village and mountains behind you. 

It’s no surprise why the Greeks and Romans believed that Pamukkale imparted supernatural healing forces.  During our climb, we spent nearly half an hour letting our feet dangle in a rushing current of thermal water that felt better than any Jacuzzi.   

The Pamukkale’s rock is not smooth, but layered over and over similar to the thin pieces of bread Turks pile on top of each other to make a dish called Borek.  But it’s also hardly rocky or sharp, and the ridges of the deposits make climbing the cliff easier.

During peak season, the travertines are filled with tourists in bathing suits (sometimes revealing more than the eye would wish to see).  During a later visit, my fellow climbers included U.S. exchange students visiting Turkey on a Rotary Club tour.

At the top of the cliff, you can see all of Mother Nature’s patient creation.  The white rock stretches out for nearly a mile, and the village below seems helpless in the fact of the tide of white approaching it.

And the top of the plateau is no less disappointing.   The 2,200-year-old city of Hierapolis provided a stunning finish to the 600-foot climb.

Archeologists say the city became a healing center due to the thermal waters pouring from its natural fissures.  The massive cemetery in Hierapolis suggests that many terminally ill people came to the city in hopes of a miracle, according to researchers.  An antique pool is located in the center of the city where steamy waters continue to pour in.  It is still in use today by tourists and locals.

“When you bathe in the waters of Pamukkale, your body is healed,” said village resident Mehmet Guleç, “Our waters are special.”

Pamukkale’s waters continue to flow, with the deposits inching further downhill every year.  In 1988, the site became a UNESCO World Heritage site in order to protect the travertines from excessive damage by tourism and development.

Today, people still come from all reaches of the world to see and experience the waters of Turkey’s Cotton Castle.

With any luck, the tradition will continue for another 2,200 years.