Here are some of the pools created by the calcium flow. Inside the shallow pools, the water is warm and squishes through your toes. When you step out of the water, calcium powder is all over your feet.

Several hotels that were once on the site have been torn down, and even many of the pools are now closed to the public, because tourism was threatening the water supply and the travertine pools themselves. There are a few places where tourists can wade in the water, as we did, and there's a large pool with the same water for swimming, and submerged fragments of ancient columns along the pool's bottom.

This is the northern entry to the city, the Arch of Domitian, and through the arches you can see the columns of the city and the paved main street, the Plateia, some of which remains. Under the street the underground water and sewage systems are still visible.

The city was built on a grid system in which the streets ran parallel or at right angles to each other. In its heyday, the city was known for its textiles, especially wool.

In our opinion, some of Turkey's historical sites have made excellent use of the ancient structures that remain. Here is one example: the interior of one of the Roman bath houses at Hierapolis. The best examples of statues and plaques found on the site and sarcophagi from the necropolis are on display here for the public. On the wall is a map depicting what the ancient city must have looked like.

The necropolis (graveyard) in which these sarcophagi were found extends some distance down the road from Hierapolis. One of two graveyards at Hierapolis, it is the largest ancient graveyard in Turkey. Twelve hundred tombs extended for several kilometers down the road (although one guidebook pointed out that this was probably not the best way to sell a health spa.) As you can see, some of the sarcophagi were ornately carved.