What should be the correct name of Türkiye's "Pamukkale"?
Pamukkale is located in Denizli, a major textile industry town in Turkey, located in the southwest mountainous area, about 200 kilometers away from Izmir. The native language Pamukkale is composed of the two words Pamuk (cotton) and Kale (castle). Cotton refers to its color as white as cotton. It looks like a cotton ball from a distance, but it is actually a hard limestone terrain. The castle means that it consists of the entire hillside, layer after layer, shaped like a castle, hence the name Pamukkale. There are many hot springs here. The hot springs flow down from the top of the cave, washing the hillside into a ladder shape. The spring water accumulates on the platform to form a pond. People can sit in it and soak in the hot springs, which is not only refreshing but also healthy. The minerals in the spring water precipitate, making the entire hillside Dyeing white, like open-air lava. Looking from top to bottom, the square hot spring platform is like a mirror, reflecting the blue sky and white clouds; looking from bottom to top, it looks like a volcano that has just erupted, with white magma covering the entire hillside, which is quite spectacular. Tourists carry their own shoes and walk along the winding path from the top of the mountain to soak in the beautiful nature. It is not an exaggeration to list this as a "can't miss" in tourist terms.
The formation of Pamukkale is due to the continuous gush of underground hot spring water, which is rich in minerals.
The sunset at Pamukkale is something you can’t miss. When the sun’s rays turn from golden to crimson, peach, rose and gray, Pamukkale will be like the most beautiful lotus, creating incredible miracles of light and shadow: The white rock surface will be slightly dyed by the sunlight, while the water waves on the rock surface faithfully record the changing colors of the sky.
When you climb to the top of the mountain, you will be surprised to find that there is a sea of clouds at the bottom of this not-so-deep valley, and it is actually the most beautiful, magnificent and rare sea of clouds in the world!
This valley, which looks like a vast sea of clouds, is absolutely forbidden to tourists because it is actually a strange swamp. The steaming light blue that people see on the top of the mountain is not clouds or fog, but a large amount of hot spring water containing calcium carbonate sinking to the bottom of the valley, forming a mud-like sediment that glows when the sun shines. The enamel-like peacock blue luster looks exactly like the blue clouds floating in the valley. This kind of landscape is extremely rare. Weather, sunshine, time, and luck are all indispensable.
There are far more monuments near Pamukkale. The Acropolis of Aphrodisias, built more than 2,000 years ago, still has Greek-style bathhouses, arches, beams, stone pillar corridors, and marble columns pointing to the sky. They are all carved from snow-white marble. The patterns are complex and the shapes are magnificent. And the Temple of the Moon Goddess, standing alone in the open space, always shines with a cold brilliance under the moonlight. The Acropolis of Hierapolis is also a Greek-style building. It has been destroyed by the earthquake and only ruins are left. Archaeologists have only excavated a huge cemetery of nobles outside the city. Under the setting sun, with the faint light, the sky and the earth are blurred. Only the silhouettes of a few house-like tombs remain.
Those ancient monuments in Asia Minor that once amazed people have been turned into ruins by time. However, not far away, Pamukkale still has green water like a mirror and hills like ice, bathing in the beauty of the gods. Brilliance becomes an eternal miracle.