Swimming with the marbles in western Turkey

These thermal baths were enjoyed by the Romans when the thermal spa was founded here in the 2nd century BC and the Roman empire encompassed this area, call Phrygia. Roman ruins litter the mineral pools as you see in the photos below and are fun to swim around.

The Roman city later grew to include a Christian community and there is evidence that the apostle Philip lived here.

The inhabitants of Laodicea traveled here to receive the healing properties of the mineral waters and could return home, after their swim, within one day. I was much refreshed by the slightly fizzy mineral water that is about body temperature.

This mineral spring is at modern day Pamukkale where these naturally terraced marble pools spill down the hillside. Today's Pamukkale borders ancient Hieropolis, the ruins of which cover the landscape now and include the traces of the Christian community as well.