We travelled from Aphrodisias to Pammukale by hitchhiking and then taking a minibus (dolmus) from Serinhisar.
Hitchhiking from Aphrodisias towards Tavas
After having visited the magnificent Roman site of Aphrodisias we walked the 500 metres to the road.
After waiting about twenty minutes we got a ride to the next village a few kilometres towards Tavas.
Hitchhiking to Serinhisar
Our next wait was only about ten minutes before Vulkan an English speaking businessman picked us up in his new Peugeot.
He drove in true Turkish fashion which is basically as fast as you can. The road was good and empty of traffic so was not quite so hazardous.
Vulkan was returning to his house in Alanya from a meeting in Izmir. Izmir is on the Aegean coast and Alanya being on the Mediterranean coast is a good drive of around 8-9 hours.
Syrians in Turkey: conversation while hitchhiking
We had an interesting chat and spoke of the estimated 3 million Syrians who are in Turkey right now, many of them working hard in the lowest paid jobs. He said they were spread throughout Turkey, with many in Istanbul and other big cities. Interestingly he said few were in Antalya which is possibly the number one tourist spot in the country. We didn’t get into the whys.
He also explained that there were many Russians and Ukrainians at the moment in Alanya.
Dolmus from Serinhisar to Denizli
Vulkan dropped us in a town called Serinhisar which was only about 30 minutes from Denizli. We had a quick and very late lunch and then took a passing dolmus to Denizli before taking another dolmus the 30 minutes to Pamukkale. There are very frequent minibuses between Denizli and Pamukkale.
Comment