#02 Why Pamukkale is a symbol of the vulnerability of our planet

As my first foreign destination for this project I chose Pamukkale, a location threatened by its own success.This charming place is covered by a unique snow-white limestone, shaped by calcium-rich spring water that flows down the mountain.

Visiting Pamukkale is above all a sensorial experience. The sight of the white patch on the mountain, the touch of your bare feet with the cold rock and then with hot water, the calcareous air you breath while crossing the white path.

This formation is really rare and fragile.

In the past the travertine terraces have suffered due to uncontrolled tourism exploitation.

Visitors were walking all over the place and nearby hotels were gobbling water, leaving the white pools often empty.

However since Pamukkale became a UNESCO World Heritage sitein 1988, some measures have been taken to preserve it, like demolishing the abusive hotels and restricting visitors access to a central path where artificial pools have been made.

Around this white landmark and the nearby ancient city of Hierapokis the whole town looks like it’s living only for tourism. The rest of the people work mainly in agriculture.

So to get a closer look at real local life I decided to spend a day with some laborers in a field while they were pruning quince trees in preparation for spring.

Pamukkale is a good exemple of how the experience of visiting a place needs to be designed in order to be preserved.

Even If this unique natural jewel is now recovering from a difficult past, it still is to my eyes a symbol of the most vulnerable things we have on our planet.