Pamukkale / Hierapolis

This 'village' almost topped Selçuk's status of tourist dive, but with a twist: empty hotel, followed by empty hotel, followed by a crumbling hovel, some goats, chickens, ducks and old dudes with beards and woolen caps. I was the only guest in my hotel, until Lee, a cool Korean arrived as as I was leaving. Quote of the day: 'I hear President of Lebanon is assasinated, so I go to Lebanon.' He'd also gone overland from Mongolia to India. This was his Egypt - Turkey trip. Being the only guest did have some advantages, as the owners gave me some free food.

Hierapolis could have been done in a few hours. To climb up to the ruins, you have to take off your shoes as you climb up the travetaries (strange calcium rock formations caused by calcium-rich water gushing from the local mountain springs). Unfortunately, these have been severely damaged by extensive overdevelopment and use of water for swimming pools in the area... and more are being built.

Hierapolis is mostly scattered rubble. Where the sacred spring was in the centre of the city, now there's a swimming pool for tourists. Leaving, I counted 25 tour coaches in the parking lot! The local villages come here to make a profit, selling everything from Roman coins to postcards. Despite these matters, the necropolis 2ndC B.C. - 2ndC A.D. is amazing - it does literally feel like a city with house-sized sarcophagi. The Roman theatre is also very well preserved.