Turkey Day 8 - Best Roman Ruins - Sagalassos & drive to Pamukkale

Fully working huge Roman Fountain - How cool is that!

Today we hit the road again, this time heading to Pamukkale but on the way we stopped off at what turned out to be one of the best Roman ruined site I have ever seen, Sagalassos. In fact I think I can safely say these are the best Roman ruins outside Italy. It added an hour to our trip but boy was it worth it.

Sagalassos is at halfway up a mountain so requires a 7km drive up a very twisty road with a step bank; luckily I didn’t meeting anything going the other way.

The site of Sagalassos has recently had some money spent on it and has great information signs and a brand new visitor centre which was all shut-up, maybe because of the time of year?

Not only was the setting amazing up on the mountainside but also there was a lot of Roman ruins still standing and several areas have been reconstructed using the original material and were just mind blowing, including two working Roman fountains! The first fountain was just huge and completely mind-blowing, the Hadrianic Nymphaeum. It was completely surreal to be standing right next to this large working Roman fountain, and really showed the majesty of a Roman City.

Luke on my back with Robin beside next to the huge several story working Roman fountain using mostly original material - wow. You can see how huge this thing is. 

Amazing Roman art work of course. 

Hadrianic Nymphaeum

I was also mightily impressed with the colonnaded street, a huge street that was so very wide with the ruins of shops and other buildings on either side. I don’t think I have ever really walked down the remains of a Roman Street before. It was so complete but all clearly ruined that it made me think of walking down a modern street after a nuclear disaster.

Julianne walking down the colonnaded street.

Walking down the Roman street.

Robin at the top of the stairs, clearly a pedestrian street.

Julianne climbing Roman stairs with Luke on her back.

More modern stairs Julianne climbing down with Luke on her back.

I also visited the Neon Library which required asking security for the key when entering, something suggested by the Lonely Planet. Which seemed very strange and odd to me but clearly worked. The Neon Library was the only reconstructed building with a roof and covered this huge mosaic.

Neon Library.

There were a range of other Roman ruins around to see, such as the Roman Theatre, monuments and such.

Grandma looking down into the Roman ruins, she was not keen on climbing down into the Colonnaded street

Julianne investigating the old artwork.     

Robin, myself with Luke looking into ruined fountain, normally what one sees when visiting Roman ruins.

Relaxing in Sagalassos         

The old council chamber.

Julianne getting into the old theatre – a bit of a squeeze with Luke on her back.

But success - inside the theatre.

A second fully working Roman fountain, the Doric fountain-house attached to its original Roman water source.

I ended up spending more time at Sagalassos than I planned but I couldn’t get away. I have seen many Roman ruins before, but I would rate Sagalassos as one of the best ever.

I was back in the car around 2-15 and then it was off to Pamukkale, and the drive was not as far as I thought and we arrived around 5pm.

Our new hotel looks lovely and we all had a clay pot meal each and they were fantastic. Turkish food done well is just out of this world.