The foreigner tourist of Turkey is changing. While everyday less and less native English speakers
travel to Turkey, everyday more and more Europeans are coming. But the only thing that does not change is the importance of the
ancient city of Ephesus from the Roman times.
I think that if one has a very limited time and needs to choose only one place to visit in Turkey apart from Istanbul, it should definitely be Cappadocia but especially for those who like booking their trips in the last minute, it is quite costly
travelling to Cappadocia because of the
high flight prices of very few airline companies that fly to Kayseri.
But Ephesus and Pamukkale are both in the Aegean region and relatively close to the airport of Izmir which is the third biggest and most populated city of Turkey and beside being touristic, it is a popular city amongst Turks so there are hourly flights to Izmir everyday and of many different airline companies which results more reasonable
flight prices even if it is a last minute booking.
Ephesus ancient site and the
House of Virgin Mary is only an hour drive far from Izmir airport. Actually Pamukkale is further - around 3 hours bus drive from the airport- but most people
travel to Ephesus area, prefer staying at least a night or two in Selcuk or in Kusadasi so they find opportunity to go to Pamukkale for the next day.
Pamukkale literally means '
Cotton Castle'. The site is called Cotton Castle because of the thermal pools surrounded by white stones. Most people looking at the
pictures of Pamukkale believe that those stones are ice but in reality they are calcium stones.
The water in those pools are very good for health but unfortunately it is not permitted to swim in the pools of Pamukkale anymore except one special pool reserved only for this purpose but you should pay extra for it.
Another important thing to see in Pamukkale is the ancient part of it which is really interesting. It is called
Hierapolis. Many people
travelling to Pamukkale only for seeing those calcium stones indicate that they knew nothing about Hierapolis before they went but they are impressed by what they saw and it was actually more interesting than the calcium stones.
About
Ephesus ancient site, there are countless things to tell since it has a very wide history. It is a must see place with its ruins,
Artemis Temple,
Antic Theatre and Virgin Mary's House.