UNESCO Heritage Sites
the day we went to pamukkale
The turquoise water in the white pools of Pamukkale has always been a major drawcard for us to visit Turkey. The travertine pools and terraces always looked so magical. We knew we had to see them.
The day we visited, the temperature was well into the 30s (Celsius). The glare of the sun was blinding as it bounced of the limestone and the heat was staggering.
In our haste to take photos and begin exploring the site, we were not concentrating on where we were walking and both stepped into a muddy, sludgy spot along the boardwalk. We probably don’t need to describe much more because everyone should know what thongs (i.e. flip-flops) in mud equals, right? An impeding ungraceful flailing of arms to steady ourselves; Le grabbing onto David, David almost losing his balance and then so forth and so forth. A scene from a black and white Charlie Chaplin film comes straight to mind as to how we must’ve looked.
After what felt like a lifetime of erratic arm movements to steady ourselves, but probably only 20 seconds in reality, we escape the mud traps. Only to then have to walk along a wooden boardwalk with what felt like glue on the soles of our feet!
Off came the footwear as we made a beeline for the travertine pools. It was a welcome relief to be able to dip our feet.
Wading through knee-deep hot spring water felt simply refreshing until we almost slip on the uneven, slimy floor of the pools. Looking around, we felt like the two most uncoordinated people on land and now in water. It didn’t bother us…. On we walked through pool after pool.
We gave up on photographing by this stage because the entire experience had become “awkward” to say the least. Us juggling our hat, sunglasses and our backpack while we tried to stay upright would just end up with our big camera going for an unwanted dip in the hot springs. It was from this experience we decided to get ourselves a really awesome compact camera for these type of situations.
The experience was slightly less magical than we envisaged but we still enjoyed our time at Pamukkale and were glad to have visited. Although the pictures we captured are hardly anything like other photos we’ve seen…. We hope the ones we have shared can give a little bit of insight into the beauty that is Pamukkale.
If you ever visit Pamukkale, there is also a swimming pool (with entrance fee) where you can swim among ancient ruins. We didn’t take any photos to share as that might’ve been a little creepy for the fellow pool-goers.
Wise Monkeys Trivia: Pamukkale translates to “cotton castle” and has an ancient city called Hierapolis built just above it.
Hierapolis-Pamukkale was listed as a
UNESCO Heritage site in 1988.
To see the other UNESCO sites we have visited,
visit our unofficial bucket list
As with all our posts, we welcome your comments and thoughts.
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mont st michel: a photo essay
There are quite a number of places in the world that we have seen photos of and have therefore decided that we wanted to go there.
Mont St Michel is one of them. It has been on our dream travel list for as long as we can remember. Plus the added bonus that it was on the UNESCO Heritage list that we are trying to tick off slowly. We missed going to see it last time we were in France. We were not letting it slip away again this time.
It is certainly not the easiest place to get to (particularly if you don’t have a car) so we decided to stay two nights – which turned out to be a double “thumbs up” decision. It gave us plenty of time to explore and relax without feeling like we were rushed.
After travelling several hours from Paris on a train and then a bus, we finally arrived! In the distance, we could see the outline. The feeling we often get inside when we get to finally see something we have been SOOOOO looking forward to: a tingle in our stomach and the goosebumps of “we are really here!”
It’s as majestic and grand as we have seen it in the pictures. Without wanting to sound cliché, we will be cliche anyway by saying that it truly took our breath away.
Once we were inside the walls after crossing the bridge, it was like we were zapped back in time to the Middle Ages (except for maybe the hoards of tourists in modern clothes).
Crowded as it was, we looked past that and found the entire place so surreal to witness. Walking up all those old stone steps to the top before exploring the inside. And the inside? It seems to carry that little bit of mystery, intrigue and plenty of history that we love when we explore places like this.
With the tide being out, we were able to walk around the outside of the walls on the mudflats. We didn’t stray too far as we were warned that there are sections of “quicksand”. It is recommended that you join a tour group before venturing too far.
To finish off our time there, we sat down for a local Normandy feed. We tried a soufflé omelette with bacon… let’s just say, it must be an acquired taste!
The other local dish we tried was creamy chicken cooked Normandy style and that was DELICIOUS 🙂
Mont St Michel was listed as a
UNESCO Heritage site in 1979.
To see the other UNESCO sites we have visited,
visit our unofficial bucket list
Have you been to Mont St Michel? Tell us your experiences/thoughts.
wise monkeys abroad 