The travertines are why Pamukkale is world-famous: a cascade of brilliant white terraced basins stepping down the hillside, each holding a shallow film of warm turquoise mineral water. They built up over thousands of years as thermal water, saturated with calcium carbonate, emerges from the ground, cools and deposits chalky travertine, the same process that grows a stalactite, only on a hillside scale. To protect the fragile surface, everyone walks barefoot along a single designated route, and only certain pools are open for paddling on any given day, rotated so the formations can recover and refill. The stone is knobbly and can be slippery, so carry your shoes and expect the climb to take longer than it looks. Seen from the plain below or from the ruins above, the whole slope glows almost supernaturally white, and at sunset it turns soft gold and pink. It is the most photographed sight in inland Turkey for good reason.
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