When in Cappadocia, go on the hot air balloon. That’s what everyone says. It ain’t cheap, but it’s worth the gorgeous view of the famed rock formations. Our bus ride from Pamukkale to Cappadocia took almost 12 hours and by the time we arrived at our hotel (it’s awesome, more deets later) I was already knackered.
We were woken up at the butt crack of dawn, even before there was a peek of sunrise over the horizon. That was a sacrifice I had to make just for the experience. We were already briefed during the night that there was a 50-50 chance of us being able to carry on with the activity that morning due to the heavy fog that engulfed the area the night before. Lucky for us, it was fortunately a bright and sunny morning.
The morning air was cold, fresh and crisp as we set off on our 1.5 hour ride across the varying terrain of Cappadocia. The whole place kinda reminds me of Star War’s Tatooine; there’s sand everywhere, people lived in cave houses and everything was dusty. All that was missing were probably pod racers, hanging ducks and Watto.
Most of the time on the balloon were spent ooh-ing and aah-ing at the beautiful scenery and taking in the fresh, cold winter air. With the gentle breeze, blue skies and the rising sun, the weather was perfect. There were a couple of huts in the middle of the rock formations, seemingly miles away from any kind of civilisation and light when it’s dark. It’s amazing people actually live out there with a couple of foxes and other wild animals we spotted.. Just when I thought the ride was coming to an end in the middle of nowhere, NOPE, the balloon went up again, this time at a higher altitude, triumphing above all the other balloons on the same journey as us.
After what seemed like forever, the balloon eventually made its way to the landing zone, atop a truck that drove for another 10 minutes before we arrived at some part of a large plain to celebrate the completion of our journey. We clinked glasses of bubble juice (non-alcoholic champagne) and received our certificate of completions. We even paid a few liras for pictures taken before the balloon launch.
While I would definitely recommend the hot air balloon ride to anyone who’s visiting Cappadocia, going on it once is enough for someone who has a short attention span as I do. The view is magnificent, and definitely worth the 200 USD we paid for the 1.5 hour ride. My parents, and a few others who were too scared to experience had a lovely view of the hot air balloons from the hotel as they had their breakfast.
Couldn’t resist a picture with our capable pilot.
Do look for reputable companies like Royal Balloons etc. as they make safety their no. 1 priority. There had been reports of ballooning accidents, one in Cappadocia just a week after we went up because the balloons were allowed to fly in bad weather.
For the 100th time, we were very lucky to be able to witness the majestic landscape, as the group whom we shared breakfast with the next morning weren’t able to because the heavy fog was back.
