Stunt like balloon landing and Psycho the tour guide

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Today was another first: riding in a hot air balloon that landed directly on a trailer. I've ridden in two balloons before, once in South Africa and once over the Valley of Queens in Egypt. Both times the landing consisted in all passengers squatting below the basket rim level in crash positions, as the baskets was dragged and bumped along until they ground to a halt, rattling all bones in all bodies - I always enjoy that! But today in Cappadocia we landed gently and upright, on the trailer AND given a ladder to get in and out! (You usually have to scramble up over the wicker with tiny footholes.)

I'd treated us to ballooning as it was something Glyn had never done, hoping it would perk up the holiday and although it was expensive, that's what credit cards are for after all.

Ballooning always starts stupidly early and this was no exception, we were picked up at 4.45am to be taken for breakfast and meet our pilot plus the other 6 people we would share our basket with.

Arriving at the dark take off site was eerie, like a strange alien village of 5 storey high rocks with around 100 balloons in various states of inflation. The rocks and balloons became randomly lit as gas was ignited to fill each balloon. Soon we were called to our balloon and gently we began to rise.

Our young pilot had informed me that there were 100 balloons, it certainly felt like being in a balloon army as we rose above the landscape in a colourful swarm. Our pilot said that it is not possible to steer a balloon, only go up and down and you go with the wind. This seems strange to me, how then, do people travel around the world in a balloon? Answers in the comments below please!

For an hour we bobbed up to a maximum of 650 metres above ground level to just skimming down above the tops of stubbly and brittle trees. There were a few times we narrowly missed the precipices of sharp looking rocks. We drifted over towards the Rose Valley and towards Carvusin where we saw the sun rise above the rocks. The wind took us then to Love Valley and we drifted closely to more pointy phallic rocks. Looking below there was always a fleet of trucks and minibuses, constantly trying to predict where we were going so that they could meet us when we landed - there was a radio connection but I do know who with, obviously it was all in Turkish.

After landing on the trailer we were given Turkish fizzy wine and certificates to celebrate the ride. Glyn was looking a bit green by this time, although he loved the experience, it was a bit much as he still was ill and was grateful to be driven back to our hotel.

We finally got to tell the guy at Cave Life that we were leaving that night! He said it was no problem and he could always find us another cave.... well who couldn't really? The whole area is littered with them but if we stay much longer, I would need to get a work permit!

We then went on a pre-booked tour. Normally we do prefer to self guide, but this way it meant that Glyn could sleep on the minibus and skip bits if needed. The tour guide was called Sergo.... not Psycho.... He said that in turkey if you name something more than 40 times, it becomes the name, so we were not to keep calling him Psycho. This guy was pure Turkish comedy gold....

Sergo was very good on his Turkish history and also answered questions on anything Turkish, so I asked about the wailing at prayer time. It turns out that it is never pre-recorded as I had thought, but is always live.

First we stopped at the Goreme Panorama and then through Nevsehir to Selime Monastery to see old dwellings and churches cut into the rock which was caked in tourists. We then went to Ihlara Valley where we went for a hike (Glyn was still weak and driven to the lunch stop where he had cushions in the shade and slept until we arrived).

The hike was only a few kilometres up a gorge that was pretty flat. We stopped at a place that had seating within the river, shaded platforms over it and people selling drinks. I did enjoy sitting on an upturned log with my feet in the cold water.

Sergo offered the group the option to walk back down the other side of the river, which is a lot rougher and had places where we needed to jump over streams and climb down rocks. We all went for that and it was a lot more fun. We spotted a gecko sitting in a tree and one of the Chinese ladies saw a snake, Sergo said she was very lucky, he has only seen them twice before on that track within the last few years. We also met a very sad and sore looking foal.

There were blackberries (or at least they looked like blackberries) growing along the path and a Turkish couple within the group started picking them and the lady gave some to me to eat. Now you would think that after all Glyn has been through, that I would be very careful as to what I eat. But if you thought that, you must not know me that well, because I did eat them and very tasty they were too! Eventually we ended up at Belisirma restaurant and sat on a shady platform over the river for a tasty lunch and even Glyn managed a few mouthfuls of food.

Next stop was a mill and church carved out of the rock that had old graffiti in a language that Sergo couldn't identify, but the Turkish couple could and said it was from the 1700's. The paintings in the church were faded, cracked and almost gone. There are so many in Turkey that there just isn't the money to restore or protect them all.

The next stop was Derinkuyu which is the largest of 36 found underground cities in Cappadocia. Kuyu means well and Derin means deep - on the lowest level (level 7) there is a deep well. When pouring water in the well, I timed it at four seconds before we heard it hit the bottom.

Dernikuyu has no written history until 1965, as the point of it was a hiding places from invading soldiers. Archaeologists reckon it first appeared in100 AD as a cool place to store food. Cool as in temperature, btw. With time it became deeper and deeper with more ventilation shafts, plus a 9 km tunnel to another nearby underground city. It had kitchens (you can see the chimneys and smoke blackened ceilings) a church (of course), living quarters, a place for animals plus a lot more. No toilets though, Sergo reckoned people stored their doings in clay pos until it became safe to deposit them outside. The church was Christian and used when Christianity was illegal in the area.

It was interesting to have a guide in the underground city as we learned so much from him. Derinkuy is a lot bigger and more spacious than Kaymakli. The tunnels are larger and although I had to stoop, I never had to sit on my heels to be able to move through them.

On the way back we stopped at Yaprakhisar Panorama to take our obligatory tourist photos and then lastly at a shop. According to the leaflet on the tour, it was an onyx demonstration, but very little info on onyx was given. What it really turned out to be was as expected, a VERY expensive shop. We got given apple juice but the aircon was very poor for such a swish shop and Glyn was really bushed by now so we waited for the rest of the group on the minibus.

We had a few hours to relax at the hotel before it was time to leave. Glyn slept on the cushions on the terrace as I watched the colony of kittens who lived on a roof just below.

I carried the bulk of the luggage down the cobbled and steep streets as Glyn was not able to manage and went to the bus station which was packed with tourists of many nationalities (mostly German, Australian, American, Japanese and Chinese, although we have also met South African and have come across Spanish and Italian). Our bus (much like a National Express coach with no loos and wifi that doesn't work) arrived late and was packed. We did have allocated seats so able to sit together. There were TV screens on the back of each seat but mine was stuck on the cartoon channel. The aircon was icy cold and I was glad I bought my cardy. It was not long after 10 pm and I soon fell asleep.

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