Floating through Cappadocia

The view from 820 meters 

Our balloon deflating

 Clockwise from top left: Our balloon being inflated; cruising through a valley; pre-dawn luminance

Aside from being known for its stunning landscapes, Cappadocia is also known for as a mecca for hot air ballooning.

We thought that the opportunity was too good too pass up so decided that we would do a sunrise hot air balloon ride.

We were picked up by the company at 5:30am before being driven to their base for a light breakfast and some tea and coffee before driving out to board our balloon.

It was quite eerie driving through the pre-dawn darkness seeing dozens of half inflated hot air balloons dotting the landscape.

We arrived at our balloon, jumped in, and took off just before the first rays of morning light started breaking over the horizon. It all happened very quickly, but the timing was perfect.

The first part of our journey saw us glide majestically through a valley that was full of caves that had been carved into the rock. It was quite surreal to be floating so gracefully through such a rugged landscape.

We then ascended up to our maximum height of about 820 meters….which is pretty high!! The strange thing was that it was almost impossible to feel the balloon moving. It was almost like we were just ‘existing’ in the air. It was only when we took a moment to look over the basket that we realized that we were suddenly a very very very long way from the ground.

It was fascinating to watch the pilot go about his business. We had never really considered what their job would be like, but it was really hard physical work. Our pilot was sweating by the end of the journey from pulling on the many ropes that control balloon.

After an hour or so, we landed on the far side of the Love Valley.  To land the balloon, the support team drove a trailer to the spot where they are landing, and the pilot had to land on top of the trailer. Once safely back on the ground, we celebrated with a glass of champagne before heading back to our hotel to enjoy a second breakfast.

It was an amazingly peaceful, yet exhilarating journey, quite unlike anything we had experienced before. Watching the landscape change shape, colour, contrast and texture as the light changed and our altitude changed was a delight.