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Hierapolis (Greek for "Holy City") sits directly atop the famous white travertine terraces of Pamukkale. Unlike most ancient ruins that were built for military strategy or trade, Hierapolis was founded in the 2nd century BC as a thermal spa resort for the elite of the Greco-Roman world.
Travertine pools of Pamukkale were created by deep underground volcanic activity that heats up natural spring water, heavily saturating it with calcium bicarbonate. As this warm water bubbles to the surface and flows down the mountainside, it releases carbon dioxide gas into the air. Without the gas, the calcium carbonate precipitates out of the water and solidifies. Over thousands of years, this soft, white jelly-like substance hardened into the cascading limestone shelves, stalactites, and tiered pools you see today.
After dinner, we saw the Whirling Dervishes, a mystical branch of Islam (Sufism) founded in the 13th century. Based primarily in Konya, Turkey, they are famous worldwide for their mesmerising, spinning practice, which is not actually a dance, but a deeply spiritual form of active meditation. The spinning ritual is called the Sema. It is a highly choreographed, symbolic ceremony meant to represent humanity's spiritual journey toward truth, love, and deserting the ego to arrive at "The Perfect."
When a Dervish whirls, they are mimicking the natural order of the universe—from the rotation of the planets around the sun to the microscopic spinning of atoms.
