Day 7 - Cappadocia 2012

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We began the day at the god-awful hour of 4.10am, to get ready for the hot air ballooning. Shuttle picked us up at 4.40am and not much interesting happened until about 5.30am when we lifted off. Our flight lasted an hour and a half and was exceptional. The day was still and calm, the sun rose over the local mesa and revealed an unbelievable landscape. Hills and valleys abound, and the rock formations are simply epic. Words can't do them justice. There are dozens of rock spires that have been inhabited since 600BC, and are still lived in today. Our pilot was a show-off, racing balloons to the highest altitude, and then grazing treetops on our way down. His landing was great, he actually landed the balloon in one shot, which is a feat in itself, but he landed directly on the trailer that carries the gondola, in an area that is only about 15cm wider and 30cm longer than the gondola! After champagne we were taken back to our hotel for an excellent breakfast, then onto Göreme, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is more rock spires, but these are massive, and were used as churches and monasteries from 600BC until about 1300AD. They were built to protect from the constant Muslim invasions, and were totally self-contained, including kitchens, store rooms and family rooms.

We leave Göreme and head to our lunch destination, the name escapes me at the moment, but it is in an ancient caravan rest stop. Trading caravans were afforded 3 days free accommodation each time they visited. Next up was a pottery workshop. Their designs and craftmanship were astonishing, as were their prices. The rest of the afternoon was taken up by more tourist money traps, which we tired of quickly. Although a visit to the Cappadocia Fortress was quite cool, although we didn't get too close, and only stayed a short time. We returned to the hotel by 4.30pm and enjoyed the early finish to our day after such an early start.

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