Hot
air balloons are almost as much a feature of Cappadocia as the magnificent underground
cities and fairy chimney houses.
When you wake on your first morning to a sky
filled with colourful balloons drifting almost silently over the remarkable
landscape around you, you know you’ve arrived somewhere magical.
But do you
want to fly in a hot air balloon? Here’s why you should.
Waking
up in Cappadocia
Lying
semi-conscious in bed as I woke on my first morning in Cappadocia, I was aware
of two sounds that I don’t normally wake to. The first was a determined mooing,
so loud the (presumably) cow could have been standing at the end of the bed
(but thankfully wasn’t). The second sounded like a strong burst of air,
followed by a quieter ‘whoosh’ – a hot air balloon! I leapt out of bed and
dashed to my cave balcony. The balloons, for there were several in fact, were
passing directly over my fairy chimney accommodation.
The
rest of the view before me was also incredible. I looked across a valley at
cave dwellings, fairy chimneys, a field of livestock (including the cow), and
down towards the rest of Goreme, and colourful rock cliffs in the distance. Having
arrived in Goreme in darkness the night before, my first morning in Cappadocia
presented an exciting discovery at every turn, but the balloons were especially impressive and I booked a flight immediately.
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| Hot air balloons at sunrise, Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey |
Taking
a hot air balloon flight
Thank
goodness for good lighting in my cave as, on the day of my flight, I had to get
up before sunrise since all flights leave at sunrise to avoid possible windy
conditions later in the day. I stumbled to the transfer bus that took
passengers to the balloon company office where we were served some breakfast
before heading out to the take off site.
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| Inflating the hot air balloon, Cappadocia, Turkey |
We
were delivered to a large open field near Goreme Open Air Museum containing a
balloon basket and semi-inflated balloon on the ground, and asked to wait. All
around us balloons littered the landscape. There were at least a dozen nearby
and a few already airbourne.
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| Hot air balloons taking off at sunrise in Cappadocia, Turkey |
The
balloon was inflated and we were invited to scramble into the basket, which was
divided into four passenger compartments and one for the pilot – presumably to
keep the weight evenly distributed. The pilot introduced himself and gave us
instructions on how to position ourselves when landed. I had wondered how
landing would go. (I remember thinking his instructions made sense - passengers
crouching low in the basket are less likely to fly out if you have a bumpy
landing)…
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| Hot air balloons take off in Cappadocia, Turkey |
Up,
up and away!
With
a few roars from the gas canister, and some impressive flames, our balloon
climbed slowly and confidently into the sky. We crested a hillside and the
scenery dropped away (it felt a bit like those sweeping landscape shots you see
in films, but this was real – eek!) Then we flew over Cavusin, a small modern town
built around ancient rock dwellings that form a massive historic wall, right in
the centre of the quiet settlement.
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| View towards the centre of Cavusin, Cappadocia, Turkey from a hot air balloon |
The
balloon then flew towards love valley, where we dipped lower to have a really close
look at the rock formations the valley is suggestively named after, and also
surprised a resident dog.
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| View over Love Valley, Cappadocia, Turkey from a hot air balloon |
The
views we admired from the balloon, and even simply the experience of flying by
hot air balloon, were fantastic. The pilot was able to position the balloon
very close to hillsides and rock formations and rotate the balloon so everybody
got to enjoy the views. Flying slowly over a section of the region also gave me
a bit more of a sense of direction and I felt like I knew my way around better
afterwards.
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| Hot air balloon pilot controlling the balloon, Cappadocia, Turkey |
Coming
in to land
We
had been soaring over Cappadocia for just over an hour when we ascended out of Love Valley, headed away from Goreme and towards some open fields. I
saw the support team that had guided us to the balloon and a passenger minibus
heading towards one field and knew this was the landing site.
Our pilot
reminded us of the landing position and then expertly, and very precisely, landed
the basket squarely on the company trailer without even a bump. We were simply
airbourne one moment and back on the ground (well, trailer) the next:
brilliant.
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| Packing up the hot air balloon, Cappadocia, Turkey |
As
some of the team packed up the balloon, others assembled a little ‘snacks and
champagne’ landing party to absolutely cement the excitement amongst the
passengers. After all, what’s not to like about champagne just after 7am?
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| View over Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey from a hot air balloon |
While
these manmade balloons can seem at odds with the spectacular natural
environment, they are also quietly unobtrusive to those on the ground as they
float mysteriously overhead and really add to the already magical atmosphere in
Cappadocia.
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| Hot air balloon passes over Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey |
If
you are visiting Cappadocia soon I recommend taking a hot air balloon flight. It really is a
once in a lifetime experience.
