Pamukkale to Aphrodisias
After leaving Pamukkale and heading to Aphrodisias, the untrustworthy Sat Nav sent the car in the wrong direction. Before we knew it we were climbing over a mountain in a snow blizzard, and when the car started sliding on the road I became extremely nervous and concerned. There were several thousand-metre drops over the edge of the road in many places, and this is why during that part of the journey there are no photos – once the car started sliding I realised stopping at any time could be fatal as the car may not grip the icy path being laid by the fresh snow and the freezing temperatures when I tried to drive away again. Getting stuck on a freezing cold mountain in a snow blizzard was not an option. It also meant that turning around was not favourable either, so the only logical thing was to keep going.
The snow became thicker and the mountain road steeper, and the ascent seemed as if it would never end. But just as I was getting to the point of real panic, the road levelled out and then the descent started on the other side. I am not sure the exact journey we undertook that day, Saturday 14 March, 2015, and I am not sure I ever will know. Certainly it is a journey I shall never forget! If you are ever going to take that route by car, I strongly suggest you ignore any Sat Nav suggestions and stick to the main roads.
- After leaving Pamukkale, the road headed high into the hills
- Picturesque road
- Beautiful hills
- Behind a near horizontal hill stretches across the landscape
- Geological layers towards the east
- The clouds seem close
- The Hyundai i20 is a reliable and trustworthy car
- More geology
- Clouds starting to gather
- A distant hill town and a backdrop of snow covered peaks
- A slightly different view
- And again, the snow covered mountains in the background
- Little did we know we were heading straight for them…
- A brief cloud break reveals a clearer view
- Higher into the hills
- It all seems so innocent…
- The ragged peaks and beautiful hills
- Snow-capped mountains
- …again…
- …and again
- Climbing higher, the town now appears below
- A menacing-looking peak
- And snow clouds gathering
- The sun starts to disappear
- Very high up…
- The further the travel, the higher they seem to get.
- Now the view behind shows how far we’ve climbed
- Beautiful Turkey…
- Love this tiny hut sitting on the side of the road
- Stunningly beautiful trees and a winding mountain road. Perfect!
- The road below shows the heights climbed with each mile
- Across the valley below
- Fresh mountain water pouring down the side
- And lovely fertile trees
- Nature at its finest
- There’s something about the mountains, don’t you think?
- The road back down the mountain…
- …and the road up the mountain
- This cute tree looks like it has Christmas lights hanging from it
- Back to the liquid life
- All very beautiful and the sound of the water was loud
- The peaks getting closer. These were over to the east
- water droplets start appearing in the photos
- It’s starting to snow.. and the journey over the mountaintop begins…
- Finally over the top and heading down again
- Behind us the misty, frightening world of the abyss
- Yep – that’s what we just drove through
- Dark clouds gathering again, best not to hang around for too long!
- Very eerie place
- Time to get going again
- And finally…
- …away from the snowy peaks and down into a wet landscape
- The hills look normal again
- Behind us not so promising
- Aphrodisias, here we come!