Our Hotel is beautiful and as it sounds ( Stonehouse Cave Hotel ) is built into the caves of Cappadocia. Well appointed and central to everything we want to do
Up at 5am for balloon flight god willing. No flights last 3 days due to bad weather. Huddled and hoping to fly we were told perfect weather today and we bundled into the bus to drive to the launch site. As we approached our intended departure field the glow from 100 balloons dotted the landscape. They are huge and ours had a capacity of 28. I must say at this point photos and descriptions DO NOT do justice to the sight and experience we were about to undertake.
Bundled energy as we watched our balloon being inflated in the pre dawn hue. Instruction on landing and we scrambled in. Compartmentalised Celeste and I were in one corner o0f the balloon, Kerry, Alain, Katrina and Andrew in another.
Fire and heat blasted the air up into the balloon and with grace we lifted. My head was good to cook an egg on as our corner was not shielded like the others from the heat. No complaints though as the majic and sensation as we lifted to 800 metres above the landscape was awesome. The landscape is full of Fairy Chimneys ( housing carved into the rock ) and the colours as the sun came up was beautiful. Floating gently on the breeze with other balloons at different levels was fairytale beyond description. Our pilot lifted the balloon and dropped into gorges and valleys to the point you could touch passing trees then up again like a feather floating in the air.
Just over 1 hour in the air passed in a flash and we gently floated down and landed on the trailer behind a 4 wheel drive. Perfect! A glass of Champagne to celebrate and we were off to the hotel for breakfast. This is a perfect bucket list thing to do.
After breakfast we had a full day tour. This covered the North and took in Avanos, Aktebe and Pidgeon Valley as well as Goreme and much of the valley we flew over.
Goreme open air museum provided us the opportunity to walk amongst the housing and churches and monestary that were built and inhabited pre 100BC. Pidgeons were plentiful back then and the pidgeon poo was collected asnd worked into the soil making agriculture possible in a soil that otherwise would not produce vegetables. Ingenious.
Weary bodies made it back to the hotel for a rest then dinner. Gozleme and beer maybe??
What a wonderful experience Celeste and I could share with Kerry, Andrew, Katrina and Alain.
Tomorrow is the Southern end of Cappadocia then a late flight back to Istanbul.
Fantastic Day.
