Day 28 - Cappadocia

Today is essentially our last full touring day in Turkey, because tomorrow will be mostly spent on driving back to Istanbul. But what a memorable day it was!

First was the world famous hot air balloon rides. Cappadocia is known for its unique rock formations caused by wind and rain erosion against the volcanic rock material. These rock formations are very beautiful when seen from above, and hot air balloon rides are the best ways to view them. We woke up around 3:30 am, got picked up around 4:15 am, had some quick coffee and pastries at the site, started our ascent around 5:00 am, around the time for the sun rise.

Most people talk about the amazing view from above. But I want to talk about a period of 1-2 minutes during the ascent that was really magical and unique.

While we were getting ready for our flight, drinking our coffee and eating pastries, there were several balloons all around us, all being filled with air. The balloons and the baskets are laid flat on their sides, and as the balloon is filled with air, it starts expanding and taking form. You can start making out the various logos on the balloons: some are of the balloon company names, some are colorful designs, some had a Turkey flag on it. Once the balloon is full of air, it gets raised up to its upright position, ready for the ascent.

Balloon getting ready for flight

When our balloon was ready, we all hopped in the basket. The basket was divided into 5 sections. One middle section held the pilot and his controls, as well as the 4 large tanks of gas to heat the air. Then there were 4 sections on each corner, holding a maximum of 4 people each. As we all hopped on, we started our ascent, very slowly.

Getting ready for the flight

The first 50 feet or so was fairly exciting -- we're on our first hot air balloon rides, and we're finally going up! But what was magical and unique, for me anyway, was that as we're ascending, there were many other balloons rising around us, all with their unique logos on them. The sun was barely rising, so the sky was still fairly dark, and when the pilots fired up the heat for the balloons, they all glowed orange, like floating lanterns or fireflies in the dawning sky. The scene resembled something straight from a movie, and it felt as if I were in some magical land where hot air balloon was a common mode of travel.

Magical

One of the balloons ascending

After some time, the balloons all dispersed in the sky to give each other enough space to move around. The pilot moved us higher and higher until we were almost at the same level as the clouds. And yes, the views were amazing. It's not something I can capture in a picture, or with any amount of words.

We are fairly high up

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Jamin asked me if this beats the Norwegian fjords as far as the views go. I thought hard, and I think so far my ranking is as follows:

1) Santorini hike
2) Norwegian Fjords
3) Cappadocia hot air balloon
4) Floyen hike

There are also memorable trips with great views I had in the US. The Grand Canyon, Yosemite Falls hike, and Mount Rainier. It's going to be so hard to fit those into one giant list, so I'll postpone that for now.

Next, we went to the underground city of Derinkuyu. It was a place for these settlers (originally the Phrygians, and later the Greek Christians and Arabs) escaped from their attackers. They would retreat into these cities, and even live here for some time until the attackers left. There were many levels to the city, with various rooms like the kitchen, the winery, and the dining room. But from the outside, you would never have guessed that there was a city below. Apparently there are many underground cities in this area, all connected with miles and miles of tunnels.

Inside the underground city, with its narrow passageways and rooms

Another beautiful view of the underground city. Thanks, Kellen for the photo!

Underground city

We also went to a pottery shop, where we learned the process of making pottery from start to finish. Cheryl volunteered to try to make pottery using the old spinning wheel. Afterwards, we were taken to the show room that displayed thousands and thousands of beautiful pottery in all colors and sizes and shapes. The sticker price on these were pretty high, as high as $15k USD. The prices were a bit steep for me, and what was I going to do with these anyway?

Pottery show room.

When we got to our hotel, I went for a short run before our dinner. I felt like I've been slacking off with my exercise so much that it would be hard to get back into my regular routine once I returned home. However, I was surprised that I could run for some quite some time without feeling too exhausted. My running route was also filled with beautiful panoramic views of the Cappadocia mountains and valleys, and it motivated me to keep running. If I had such a view during my run, I would probably do it much more often.

Fairy chimneys and the landscape of Cappadocia