Pamukkale to Kusadasi -- Wednesday February 6th

Waking up in Pamukkale, we began the day right outside the back door of our hotel, where we could see the Travertines, which look like white cliffs (and no guarantees on my Wikipedia-referenced geologic explanation).  Travertine is a form of limestone formed by a process of rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate, often at the mouth of a hot spring or in a limestone cave.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travertine  As we found out that was certainly the case here, with the hot springs coming through the middle of the ancient city of Heiropolis, which sits atop the white cliffs.  Interesting to note that until about 10 years ago there were hotels situated right in the middle of the hot springs which were ruining the Tavertines, turning them brown (shocking that hotels sitting within the hot springs, actually using the heated water in the hotel, would have an adverse effect) and following a contentious lawsuit, were taken down. 

Heirpolis itself is a sprawling historical site, as we would find out later, not the best preserved.  Like many sites it had layers of history with the picture below showing city gates to the main street from both Roman, and post-Roman times. 

In front of the the gymnasium which also houses the museum which we didn't have time for. 

All of which overlooked the Tavertines and the Mountains to the South and West. 

with Jenny Crist and Scott Keyes

After Heiropolis, we headed back to Denizli, where fortunately the air was better.  We saw a nut roasting and packaging company called Altintop (though most of the hazelnuts are grown further north and east near the Black Sea).  

Following Altintop, we headed due west toward the Aegean coast to Aydin, where we visited Yateks figs, which packaged figs (not surprisingly) but also copacked some other fruit from a Spanish company as the labor cost was much cheaper in Turkey. 



Black light aids workers (all women) who look for a particular kind of toxin (like alphatoxin in corn). 



The figs are handpacked and as we would find out a day or two later, delicious with walnuts.  Following the tour we got a very interesting discussion about fig production, which is from an evolutionary standpoint, is an ancient fruit, but which retains some advantages over many of the fruits we cultivate here in the U.S. 

After Yatek's Figs we travelled to a nearby winery called Sevilen Magnesia Winery.  A large, modern facility, it was interesting visiting a winery in a Muslim country.  The winery appeared to have a marriage of convenience with the government, which taxes their product heavily.  

winery foyer



lots of stainless steel tanks

After Aydin, we headed the rest of the way to Aegean seaside city of Kusadasi where we enjoyed wine compliments of our hosts at Sevilen.  It was a common theme during the trip in that at each stop today we received gifts, hazelnuts from Altintop, figs and raisins from Yateks, which had also had held back some production so that we could see their plant (somewhat offseason) while operating.