Tuesday, August 04, 2015

The Big Balloon Event

Our big event in Cappadocia, the one everyone is told not to miss, was a hot air balloon sunrise flight. I couldn't sleep that night. I was excited. I was nervous. I was upset that we hadn't brought our sweaters. Even central Turkey is chilly at 4am. I tossed. I journaled, I daydreamed. And I slept a little and had some unpleasant dreams.

4am finally came.  We loaded into a van and went to the balloon office. They fed us snacks while collecting all the passengers and finally around 5 am we headed out. We went to a field where 4 balloons from our company (voyager) were already under way filling with hot air. They put 20-25 people in each basket and we were off, up into the cool morning air above Cappadocia.


The flight was amazing. We went super hight with the landscape far below us. We went deep down into a valley full of fairy chimneys and brushed the rocks as we passed them.


The next morning I woke to a strange noise at 6:30 am. After taking some time for my mind to process it, I recognized that the hot air balloons were flying over our valley. I ran out to take pictures. Hundreds of tourists fly over Cappadocia every morning. It must be a good business to be in!


1 comment:

Janean said...

I'm adding this to my Turkey itinerary.