The main attraction in Cappadocia is the sunrise hot air balloon flights, and we were up at 05.30 ready for ours. After a lot of faffing around in a minivan doing pickups from various cave hotels, we were driven out into the boonies where the balloons were being filled in the pre-dawn light.
A quick fireside coffee, and then we were crammed into the basket, which was quite large, carrying about 25 people, and it was liftoff with the jet of flame providing much-needed warmth on this chilly, below-zero morning.
The experience of silently rising into the sky surrounded by a hundred other balloons of all colours, elevating into the golden hour light just before sunrise, was something I’ll never forget.
As the sun broke the horizon, the visuals became even more spectacular as our skillful pilot guided the balloon down into the valleys surrounding Groeme, where an otherworldly landscape of bizarre rock formations floated below us.
Before we knew it, our hour’s flight was coming to a conclusion, and the pilot deftly guided the giant balloon to the landing spot, which was a trailer no wider than the basket tethered to the back of a pickup. Everyone was on a high, and the trip, which cost 130 euro per person, was rounded off with a glass of bubbly.
