Cappadocia: Up, up, and away…….and one of the highlites of my trip.

Sorry….almost no food in this one…..

One of the things the Missus really wanted to do, was to go for a balloon ride in Cappadocia. So during my correspondence with Mustafa from the Arch Palace, whom I wrote about earlier, the possibility of a early morning balloon ride was brought up. After thinking a bit and doing some research I decided to book a ride on our first morning, that way should the weather be terrible and all rides cancelled we'd still be able to get a "make-up" the next day. Good thing too, since it rained like crazy the afternoon and night before our ride. After dealing with Mustafa, I now understand the term "fixer" when I hear it on travel shows……. My request was pretty simple:

"As for the balloon flights, we'd like one that is not so crowded and safe."

Mustafa booked our flight on Atmospher Balloons. We awoke at 4am in the morning and were driven to….well, I'm not sure where in the darkness of early morning where there was a huge crowd of people all having sweets and tea or coffee and waiting for their shuttles to come and pick them up.

 

 

When we arrived and checked in we were handed a card with out pilot's name on it. We waited for our group to be called. There seemed to be some pretty large groups, and we were among the last called…..a small group of a dozen people, just as Mustafa promised.

We arrived at a large open area as dawn cracked. There were balloons being prepared for take-off.

 

We met our pilot, by the name of Serkan……a very witty, funny, and more importantly very experienced pilot.

 

The basket was big enough so each person would have a clear view (if they desired) from the rim. I had a look at the impressive burners…..

 

Which looked even more impressive when they were on!

 

You can't help wonder, "man, what if this thing catches on fire"…… but of course, the skirt/scoop which directs air into the balloon are fire resistant. But still, you can't help but wonder…..

Initially, you're part of a huge "flock" of balloons rising from fields all around the area. (Click to enlarge any photo.)

 

The sky is full of balloons, a pretty dramatic sign in itself…….

 

But eventually, everyone kinda goes their own way…….

 

 

Until it's just pretty your balloon and the amazingly diverse terrain of Cappadocia…….

 

Serkan took us very close to several ridges and low enough to brush treetops, only to slowly drift back up.

 

I'm not a big fan of heights, but I loved this….you actually felt like you were floating on air. We noticed that several of the other balloons had pretty much landed at an hour rght on the dot, but Serkan told us, "don't worry, we'll go longer….you have spent a lot of money on this, and you may never have a chance to do this again…so we'll keep on going."

 

 

Of course, eventually we'd have to land……this is where the real fun began. Apparently, there was a problem with Serkan's crew getting to us. Roads had been washed out in the previous day's rain storms. At that point, Serkan pointed to a couple of us and said, "ok, today you'll be my crew….." If you though he was joking, he wasn't. We found a flat spot and Serkan brought the balloon down. It landed so gently, like your head hitting your pillow. Serkan handed me a rope and told me to get on out and pull the balloon down……the men got out and we pulled like heck. The Missus got some great photos.

 

 

Once the balloon was on the grass, Serkan jumped out and joined us, teaching us how to flatten the balloon.

 

A couple of minutes later, one of Serkan's crew joined us. We were told that we needed to hike out….. which is what we did, over pastures, trying to walk on high and dry ground….

 
We eventually passed the reason crews couldn't get to us……one of the crew's trucks had flipped over, blocking the access road.

 
We made our way to the small town and jumped into a minivan back to our hotels…..

 

We were supposed to have had a champagne toast at the end of our flight, but of course since the crews couldn't make it to us that was cancelled. But I wasn't disappointed at all…..hey, I got the chance to help land a hot air balloon! I don't know why, but I really got a kick out of that. It was one of the highlites of my trip. I have a neat story to tell about the time I helped to land a hot air balloon in Cappadocia, Turkey……….