Hierapolis

All 34 photos in Turkey 2023

Troy, Pamukkale and Istanbul · Jun 2023 · 34 photos

In early June 2023, four days lead from the Dardanelles to Istanbul, with a detour south through western Anatolia. The light changes along the way: clear skies on the coast, summer clouds over the hills inland, rain and leaden skies at the end.

Çanakkale lies on the Asian shore of the strait. The wooden horse on the waterfront was used in a 2004 film about the Trojan War and later given to the city. In the morning, the Hatime Ana Mosque, on the southern edge of town, and around noon, the archaeological site of Troy, about 30 km to the southwest. The settlements built here one on top of another span nearly four thousand years, and the site has been on the UNESCO list since 1998.

Farther south, Pamukkale, whose name means “cotton castle.” Thermal springs rich in calcium carbonate have coated the hillside in travertine, in terraces and pools that visitors wade through barefoot.

On the plateau above the terraces spread the ruins of the ancient city of Hierapolis, with the Roman theater cut into the hillside. Hierapolis-Pamukkale has been on the UNESCO list since 1988.

In Istanbul, Hagia Sophia was built in its present form in the 6th century under Emperor Justinian, and Topkapı Palace, a few steps away, was home to the Ottoman sultans for nearly four centuries. The city’s historic areas have been on the UNESCO list since 1985. In the evening, from a boat on the Bosphorus, come the palaces of the European shore: Dolmabahçe, built in the mid-19th century, when it took over from Topkapı as the sultans’ residence, and Çırağan. The suspension bridge over the strait, opened in 1973, was the first to join Europe and Asia.

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