The white travertine terraces filled with the warm, translucent water of Pamukkale are a fluke, a fortuitous quirk of geological whim. The calcite-laden waters derive from springs in a cliff almost 200-metres high and their path has created an incredible landscape that culminates in a series of stepped pools. The ancient Greco-Roman city of Hierapolis was built nearby and people have been bathing in the pools carved out by the hot flowing waters for thousands of years.