Cappadocia

We had an early start for hot air ballooning today. After some tea and cakes, and a long wait, we were ushered into a van which took us only 500m up the road where a balloon had just landed. They re-stocked the basket with full (hopefully) gas cylinders while other people climbed out and we climbed in. Shortly after we were floating in the air and flying high above the amazing area with awesome views. We took off next to the Open Air Museum (where we will go later) which was a great example of the amazing caves and paintings on the rocks. Once up high we could see similar landscape for mile and miles, along with probably 30 other balloons in various places.

We had a pretty rough landing near some tomato trees. The poor guys who had to chase our balloon were running towards us, dodging the trees and grabbing the rope we threw out. It looked like they were losing a battle of tug-of-war the way they tried to stop us from moving, but it was quite windy so we kept sliding on the ground. We finally came to rest, but on the edge of a mound and probably would slide onto more tomatoes. They decided we should take off again so we climbed into the air and the guys ran to the truck to catch our next landing spot.. This time we ploughed through a tree and scraped our way up a slope, trying to land on the flat top. After some scraping, sliding and tugging we came to rest near the edge of the hill, slightly precarious, but safe enough. It was certainly an experience. As soon as the balloon was deflating, one man was putting the table out and pouring the champagne, as tradition would expect, then we were issued with ‘certificates’!

Finally, back at the hotel we had a quick breakfast and then were off again with the rest of the group. There was lots to see today. First stop was an area called 3 Beauties, three tall rocks with ‘heads’ on top.

Next stop we took a bit of a walk amongst the rocks. After some steep climbs and a dead end, we arrived at Camel rock, a rock formation that kind of looks like a camel!

The next area was covered with lots of tall stones and some church caves. Our tour guide didn’t want to tell us what they looked like, but guessed we would figure it out once we saw them!

Next was a pottery workshop which was in a cave. We had a demonstration of how pottery is moulded, painted and shown a large display room. We were all very tempted to purchase, and some people became pottery collectors, just like that. We were keen on a large vase, but at 900 Lira (over £400) we weren’t so sure. Instead we bought a small bowl which will remind us of all the lovely things we saw J

Lunch was a quick meat pide at a small local restaurant. Then we popped into a jewellery showroom. We had a quick talk about some of the stones they used then we had more time to spend money. After our efforts at the pottery place we had limited time for the jewellery (luckily!)

Back at the Goreme Open Air Museum our guide showed us around the chapels and other caves in the rocks. There were some amazing paintings still on the insides of the chapels.

Up the road at Captain Osmans we had a great view over pigeon valley, then stopped further up the hill at a small village where we had a magnificent view over the landscape. Here we saw caves that were still being used today.

Tonight we went to Turkish dinner with entertainment (in another cave). Firstly there were Whirling Dervishes, then as the food and drink was served we saw Turkish dancing, belly dancing and actors getting prepared for their wedding, all the while dragging members of the audience to participate!

We were all very tired after the long day, so by 11 we were glad to be heading back to our hotel rooms.