Excursion to Pamukkale. Our experience!
Good day everyone!! ! Emotions have cooled down . . which means I am writing a review! ) Pamukkale is my old dream, not even so, desire. A hotel in Turkey was chosen, a place too, so that it would be closer to go. I must say right away that we were not going to buy an excursion from Aneks, but we asked, asked, 65 dollars per person. and noodles about the fact that we will not be delivered anywhere, not to any shopping centers)). And to go there from Side 1.5 hours)) Well, well . . We had a hotel between Side and the village of Kyumkuma, respectively, excursions in street agencies went to look nearby. We found only 3 nearby. In one of them, we bought a rafting tour and wanted to go to Pamukkale with them. But it turned out that they had it only on Wednesday, and on Wednesday we were already leaving, but we really wanted to get there ! ! In the other two, they didn’t like it, then they push something, then they only notice the Germans)).
So, by chance, we were walking past and saw another one, on the corner, not far from our hotel, such a nondescript desk. Traum Tour.
There is a Russian-speaking Azerbaijani Ruslan there. I found out everything, asked around, said there was no lunch, there would be dinner, the entrance to the territory of Pamukkale is INCLUDED in the price! Well, Cleopatra's pool for an additional fee, if we want. I also clarified whether we will be with a Russian-speaking group or not? (although not fundamentally), he said, yes, yes, of course. Russian-speaking guide . . oh . . if we knew what kind of guide would be! ))). And she also asked if they would pick us up from Side? Yes, yes . . was the answer! . Why am I all this? And then it will be clear. We went to the hotel for an advance payment of 20 dollars. We returned, the guys were sitting with him and also agreed on a trip to Pamukkale, as it turned out they were from our hotel . . Aleksey and Ira, we survived this terrible day with them! ) They gave the deposit, asked again what and how, left, but the feeling of something that didn’t add up did not leave. But the choice has been made. So, Sunday morning. They were supposed to pick us up at 6 am. 20 minutes late. Well, this does not happen to anyone...
we go in-in the cabin-4 seats in the back and that's it !! ! Two more, on which one child sleeps, then it turned out that these are places for, wow! , for a couple from Iran who flew from Istanbul to Antalya to go to Pamukkale)). The beginning of the road... do not expand the seats. nothing. . okay, let's go. We reached Antalya in an hour, got out at the gas station and waited . . what? It turned out a couple from Iran. They have already approached, and our guide is OLGA! smokes and is in no hurry. 15 minutes of standing, we go further. On the bus are Ukrainians, a couple of Belarusians, a young couple of Germans, women and children from Algeria and someone else from Kosovo! They all traveled from Alanya! And this is the first joint - we were told everyone would be from Side. Further, and here it begins... Olga announces the list of those who do not include a visit to Pamukkale and lunch. And the four of us also get on this list! The clarification has begun. It will take about 30 minutes to describe everything . . we figured it out all 4 hours! ! First, the guide Olga, a girl of about 30 years old... terribly tongue-tied and God forgive me...
stupid, but cunning and greedy girl, apparently from Astrakhan, it was too often she molded her everywhere in her so-called stories, she just started to run into us ! ! I don't know anything. call and find out! And neither we nor the guys naturally know the phone numbers. this Ruslan! . Then it got to the point that she said - "I will now stop telling you in Russian at all and will tell others information in English! )))) Then she said that when she has attention, " There will be free time "))) she then and answer our questions! But she attacked the wrong ones, there were 4 of us, she was alone! As a result, at first the requests, then we had to put pressure on her, we managed to get her to call and she was given the number of this Ruslan . . ah so she still refused to call him, or to give him a phone, motivating this by saying - "I have paid calls! ))) But when I told her what her duty to tourists was . . I changed my mind . . the result is Ruslan - "I told you all,
what is not included in the cost . . apparently we all 4 hallucinated, and moreover, at different times))). And then she decided to sell us these tickets for 13 euros per person! ))) What we refused And yet, there are tickets in lira. We didn’t have lira, we didn’t have time to change it, although I knew what was in lira, but I think I’ll change it somewhere. She began to tell me that it was impossible to change there! ! Nowhere! ! And to give an example about St. Petersburg, they say, at the Hermitage, you can’t change it anywhere either))) To which I answered her, what does Peter have to do with it ? ? Here in Kyiv you can change money everywhere! By the way, there are ATMs near Pamukkale and there are many shops there, so I’m sure you can change money there without any problems! Another lie - "if you buy the tickets yourself, then your insurance on the territory is not valid"! )) As a result, when we stopped at the leather factory, there was a small bar nearby. 0. So, a leather factory, a candy store, an onyx store... everyone quickly left,
but as always there is someone everyone is waiting for! Such were the couple from Ternopil! They don't care, the main thing is that they satisfied their curiosity)). I think, if not for them, we would have arrived in Pamukkale much earlier. And of course, everyone was waiting for them everywhere and even in Pamukkale. . . Actually, I don’t understand, people are indignant, but they are afraid to say openly.
The story of the history of Turkey from the guide is something! ! Here are some excerpts... "there was some kind of Ukrainian... who, bam! And twisted the Sultan! )) Also, " I used to know little history at all, not like Turkey... I thought that only Russians participated in the First World War ))) Also... somewhere in Greece . . a king was born....(this is about Alexander the Great)... and he decided to go conquer the peoples... and then he "TRYNDYRYTS" conquered something there. (I don't remember exactly what she mentioned). And there were many such pearls... and then my son, a technologist, was indignant.
Olya - "Lukum is real and not real! Starch is added to it - ah-ah-ah, a nightmare! Son, so as he said, not to disgrace her in front of everyone, he took her aside already upon returning home and asked-" What did you mean by fake and harmful Turkish delight? Starch is not chemical. Substance, to which she replied that she did not say such a thing and tried to get out. but failed. Actually, what am I for? How can illiterate people work as guides!! ? And yet, she really extorts money from everyone, although no, DIVINES, it will be more truthful! We didn't succeed. She divorced Belarusians and Germans, but the Germans, don't be fools, defended their right! More on this later. So... let's go . . lunch time - everyone for lunch. and we are 7 or 8 people . . without him . . we have to sit on the street and wait for them all to dine! How are you? And all because you need to warn that you will be in a group with those who eat. Of course, Ruslan did not tell us anything like that. We went inside, wanted to know if we could buy something,
but Olya is like a kite. Where we are, there she is, so that they don’t ask, God forbid, without her. Lesha asked her if they could sell something separately, to which she lied that she didn’t. We were not hungry, we took food with us, but the fact itself! So - she told everyone on the bus - that SHE PLANS to be in Pamukkale at 14, then at 15... we got there at 16.10!! ! On the way, she still steamed hot red springs for us... and she also said, if there are more people who want to go there, then we will go, no, we will not go. But everything turned out, as, indeed, everything she said was a lie! At the same time, she said several times that she really likes to swim there, more than in Pamukkale)). Funny. Let's go. . . OOO. Pamukkale is visible. And then we quickly pass it and find ourselves in the town behind Pamukkale, on this hot spring... By the way, she spun people there too for 13 euros per person... well, we went in, we thought maybe everyone would swim there, except us... ahh. . it wasn't there. Ukrainians did not manage to untwist a single one for this.
Belarusians, Germans and a family from Algeria, where there are three children, including a child under one year old and three women. We took pictures for 10 minutes, half an hour passed. I'm already tired... everyone is indignant, but no one says anything to Olya . . I'm bald myself)). I say, why are you all outraged, but keep quiet ? ? And they say - so she bathes, what do you say to her ? ! Imagine people sitting. And she climbed into this puddle and bathes! GUIDE!! ! I ask. Olya, how long are we going to hang around here? The answer is, well, people swim! I say 40 minutes?? ? And Pamukkale closes at 7pm! But she didn't tell anyone about it!
But it's not hard to guess that the complex is closed all night. Even though it’s written on Wikipedia (infa is incorrect there), she comes out of this, by the way, a swimming pool (it’s better in our Kherson region) and an Algerian woman comes up to her and quietly begins to tell her in good English what she will do with her if she will not return the money... everyone went to the bus... she returned the money to them. But,
then it started... she comes up to a German couple (young guys, a girl and a guy) and demands 26 euros from them for swimming in this puddle. Which, by the way, is free. There are not even cash desks either on the territory or at the entrance! To put it mildly, he went nuts! And we thought, why are the Germans rinsing along with the Belarusians and with her?? ? ))) There were 35-40 of us in total, I didn’t count exactly, so we were all waiting for 5 of them! They started arguing, but before we had time, we finally arrived in Pamukkale!! ! . Give us 2 hours for everything! But of course, a couple from Ternopil stretched this time a little longer)) We are going back. . . and as the Germans were sitting in front of us, all 4 of us watched this argument right up to Antalya. HE told her that they say you told the Russians (us), but we didn’t. I liked the phrase when she got it - NO GET MONEY! )) She turned green! Let's almost yell - it's May Celeri! ! (salary) he asks her your phone, your travel agency, your last name? What does she tell him - I don’t have a last name, just Olga!
))) and there is no number)) We are going to the travel agency and you will figure it out there. He asks when? And she - that's how we'll arrive, it's at one in the morning. !! ! He asked her to write out a receipt, she went to the front of the bus, he pulled out the money... and held it in his hands. He comes back and brings him a handwritten piece of paper with a price! But it's German! Well done! In general, he could hardly restrain himself . . he hides the money in his wallet, and she thought that she was giving it to her! ) we watched her look, and when he hid them, oh what started there ! ! She was no longer embarrassed that we were all nearby, maybe she thought we didn’t understand... in general, she went to the beginning of the bus, called, and we explained to the German that he should score on her and go to the spa hotel, I hope he did! Why am I writing all this? For many travels, tours, we first encountered such a horror named OLGA! And with deceit from a street travel agency specifically in the person of Ruslan. And I want to warn people. By the way, the entrance to Pamukkale costs 35 Lira,
after all, the guides get these tickets not for 10 dollars, but much less, and sell them at their cost. As a guide, I have never seen worse! She doesn’t know anything about the fact that there is a mosque, an ancient city, an amphitheater on the territory . . she didn’t even mention that you can go there, only about the amphitheater, but it was said like this - “it’s hot there. If you want. There is a bus on the territory, he brings you there for such and such an amount. All)). It's good that I know geography, so it was not difficult to find everything and see it. But of course there wasn't enough time for everything. )) But people didn't even know where to go! What is the best way to approach the sources. What is on the territory. just loitering about. . that's all. . She also said that they wouldn't let strollers into the territory! ! Like, how are they going to go there? ? It's about women from Algeria. Do not believe me, they are allowed and with strollers they drive around the territory. It’s just that, of course, no one goes to the thermal springs with a stroller and they take off their shoes. There are many cafes in the area
prices are higher of course than in resort towns. ice cream 9 lira, water 3, etc. I have never met a guide who is the first to run for food, and does not think about tourists! Eat and smoke, swim in the red spring, cut down the dough from the suckers, as she says, that's all the guide Olga needs! Signs - light brown hair, plump, Russian girl. , Works at the KITABUS TOUR agency. A driver who does not understand English, much less Russian, barely moving, crawling and always turning off the air conditioner with closed doors at stops. SARIKAYA carrier. This is how the trip to Pamukkale turned out. But despite all this, it's worth going there! ! BUT independently or by hiring a rental car. Or by plane from Istanbul to Denizli! Pamukkale is 20 km behind it. You can spend the whole day there! I wish everyone to have fewer unsuccessful trips and to choose travel agents more carefully! Ask, I will answer your questions.
P. S/ I don’t know how to insert a photo into the text. ,
all photos below.
view from the bus, at the entrance to Denizli
suffering, no lunch)
red source
it is also with a pool puddle.
clay, at least smear the huts)
another puddle next to dirty water.
Entrance to the territory of the Red Spring - no box offices, no people, no tickets.
Pamukkale travertines.
beauties!
the lake below
dried travertines
ruins of ancient Hierapolis
in front of the entrance to the Antique pool, also known as Cleopatra's pool.
the pool itself
trampling on the ruins of the ancient city)
a cozy place overlooking the snow-white walls of Pamukkale!
wedding photo session in Pamukkale.
the bus that drove us
travel agency. . . its guide, nightmare and horror)
sunset, road to the hotel.
