Balloon trip in Cappadocia

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While in Cappadocia we were offer the opportunity to take part in a hot air balloon ride over the World Heritage listed Goreme Valley with it fairly chimney. This is the trip shown on all the tourist posters and tv travel programs.

While expensive at 200 US dollars and involved an early start of 4am it was too good an opportunity to miss, about half of our tour group took this option. As this was my first balloon ride and while I knew it was safer than flying I was still a little apprehensive.

Unlike airplane travel there was no feeling of acceleration on take-off you just float off the ground. Unless you were looking over the sides you would not have known you were floating above the ground. Seeing the Gnome valley at sunrise from above you got a sense of scale and a unique 360 degree view from above , as the rock colours changed in different light. As this is one of the most popular tourist balloon rides in the world there were over 100 balloons in the air with us surprisingly rather than detracting from the experience it added to it and gave a sense of scale. The only excitement was when we hit the top of a scrub after clearing a hill. The landing was very smooth with a slow drop into a clearing with just two soft bonces, if fact better than any aeroplane landing on the trip. Overall it was a rewarding experience and I would do it again without any reservation. Later in the day when we went to the valley again those of us who went ballooning definitely got a different and more impressive perspective of the valley.

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