Experience the best of Denizli

Denizli is a textile town in a broad valley of western Anatolia, known for its towels and cotton goods and for the crowing rooster that is its symbol. Mountains ring the plain, and Babadağ, to the south-west, is a high ridge with views. The city's bazaar sells local weaving, and its museum holds finds from nearby ancient cities.

Pamukkale, Turkish for cotton castle, about twenty kilometres north, is a hillside of white travertine terraces and warm mineral pools formed over thousands of years by spring water rich in calcium. Above them stands Hierapolis, a Greek and Roman spa city whose theatre, necropolis and thermal pool survive, listed together with Pamukkale as a World Heritage Site. Laodicea, a few kilometres from Denizli, was one of the Seven Churches of Revelation, and Karahayıt has red mineral springs.

The cooking of the Aegean is felt here: lamb baked in a clay oven, pides, gözleme flatbreads, olive oil dishes of vegetables, and strong tea in tulip-shaped glasses. Summers are hot and dry, spring and autumn are best for walking the ruins, and winter brings snow to Babadağ.