`Land of the beautiful horses`

Words fail me at the moment. 6am start. Minus 12 degrees C. Sunrise watching by hot air balloon. 

I will add words later.....

I have my voice back. We arrived in Capaddocia in freezing conditions. Snow and ice. Bitterly cold but lovely and sunny. The village is really not very big. There are lots of restaurants and shops on the main street and many small hotels. Ours is about 300 metres from the Otogar. The Milat Cave Hotel. What a welcome. Mehmet Avci (the manager) and the beautiful Emine make us feel like old friends welcomed in from the cold. Smiling faces on reception, cay, and offers of advise to make the most of our time in this special place. Trips and tours explained, we head off to our room. It is lovely, very unique, built of the local stone. Its warm and cosy too. Someone with a flair for interiors has had a hand in this hotel. Its very nice, our bed is wooden and has a beautifully carved headboard, we have two comfortable chairs. Everything works! 100% happy with this. Later we find the terraces, up on the roof with fabulous views. Delicious breakfast is served up here.

Travelling days are tiring, I dont know why, we just sit on the bus and watch the world go by. Maybe its the stress of the unknown that is to come. I research as much as I can about where we are going and look carefully at accommodation, location and reviews. But, sometimes things can go wrong (PasaPark Konya, Warsaw, Dubrovnic accomodations spring to mind). So there is always an element of worry. No worries at Milat Cave Hotel. We settle in, do a recce of the area, and decide to have a nap to perk us up. Long nap! Didnt wake up till 7 the next morning.

So Capaddocia. How to describe it? If you look it up on Google it says its a semi arid area in central Turkey. Known for its distinctive `fairy chimneys`, tall cone shaped rock formations clustered around Goreme, Monks Valley and elsewhere. Bronze age homes carved into the valley walls by the Troglodytes (cave dwellers) and later inhabited by early Christian settlers. There are several `cave churches` with still good paintings of biblical scenes on the walls. 

So sounds interesting? Nothing can prepare you for the scale. Its an amazing sight as you drive into Goreme. You turn a corner and your eyes are widened by the sight of these fantastic rock formations. Bulbous rocks that remind me of the `iced gem` biscuits I used to love as a child (can you still buy them?). Then impossibly tall skinny rocks with pointy caps on top in various different shades of stone. Some cave houses are inhabited to this day, and you can do airbnb. I did try to book one but it was so expensive, even as a treat. Some hotels are part cave/part built on. We are happy with our choice. Anyway, back to Capaddocia. Millions of years of volcanic action deposited ash and lava onto this area from Mount Erciyes, Hasan and Melendiz. Some layers were soft and some hard, depending on the temperature and content of the deposit. Then came water and wind. When the area was under water (hard to believe now, its so arid) the water currents wore away the softer rock, leaving the harder caps perched precariously on top of skinny towers. The water receeded and the area became arid, but its still being erroded by wind and weather. Without the hard rock caps, the soft towers would soon weather away.

It is the most surreal landscape. I strongly recommend guided tours for this area, it would be hard to find your way around and understand the geology and history without a professional guide. Our guide was Atlas Hakan Ozel from Andromeda Tours. He was so enthusiastic and knowledgable. Then there are the balloon rides, more about that later if I can find the words. Or quad bikes (fun but noisy), or horse riding (`never get on the back of something with its own brain` advice I was given years ago and I stick by it.) There are maps with walking trails too, with less ice and better footwear I would definitely be up for that.

The guided tour took us to the Monks valley, Love valley and some fabulous panaroma view points. It is truely a unique place. Our guide was great, he explained each area and pointed out things of special interest, then gave us time to take photos and explore on our own. It was incredibly icy and I am terrified of breaking another bone. (Two confirmed breaks plus one suspect is enough in a year I think!) Also, my footwear was far from perfect, so we probably missed a bit here and there. It is absolutely bone chillingly freezing. There are some quite spectacular icicles and ice formations.

So, to the balloon ride. Everywhere you go in Goreme (Capaddocia) you see balloon baskets on trailers with 4x4`s towing. They are parked up everywhere it seems. Its big business. We paid €150 each, which is the going rate. Each basket takes 20 passengers. We counted over 100 balloons. So, the maths, on a good day with the right weather conditions, €150 x 20 x 100 = €300,000. Of course, its not always perfect weather. The first morning when we woke up, they were flying over the hotel, it was a bit of a grey day, but still a wonderful sight. Then on the next day. (Our day) conditions were perfect, clear skies, virtually no wind, how lucky were we? The next two days all flights were cancelled due to snow and fog. I would have been so upset if our flight had been cancelled, its a once in a lifetime thing. The majority of tourists are Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese. They have travelled a long way for this! 

Anyway, early to bed, early to rise. We put on virtually all the clothes we have. Seriously, a lot of layers. Report to reception at 6.50. The minibus picked us up and delivered us to the balloon companies headquarters for coffee and biscuits. Then, we all get back into the minibuses for the slippery, snowy trip to our balloon. Everywhere we look, balloons are being inflated. They look like sleeping giants under duvets waking from their slumbers. Its still dark, and the bursts of flame from the gas burners illuminate the colours of the canvas and the snow sparkles. Soon our balloon rises above the basket and we are told to get in! There are five sections, the middle is for the gas bottles and the pilot. Then there are two sections at each end for five passengers each. The balloon is about 3.5 - 4 feet deep, about chest height on me. There are a couple of foot holes to help you, and rope hand holds too. It was still a struggle with all the layers of clothing and the camera bag. But, somehow, I got in! A quick health and safety briefing - dont get out of the basket (pretty obvious), demonstration of the brace position for landing (basically, crouch down, hang on and start praying), and do whatever the pilot says! A couple more bursts of gas, and the mooring ropes are released and the ground falls away. That is how it feels, not like you are rising, but that the earth is falling away. There is no wind because you being carried along with the wind. It is absolutely peaceful. We are soon very high, and can see other balloons that are yet to take off being prepared in snowy fields and flat places everywhere. Minibuses and trailers are being driven across pristine snow back to the icy lanes. Its quite an operation. We are at the mercy of the wind, but as we drop down amongst the `fairy chimneys` it is obvious that these skilfull pilots can steer to a certain extent by opening vents on the sides of the balloon. Up and down we go, its like a ballet of balloons. I feel like a bubble in a glass of Court Garden Sparkling wine. Its so cold, I have to keep my hand over the battery on the camera to prevent it from draining. I am snapping away, the sunrise is stunning, the landscape fabulous, the balloons are beautiful. The pilots are in constant contact with each other by radio and handsignals so they know who is doing what and when. We even saw a deer running startled by the balloons in a valley. At times we were close to the ground and could see animal tracks in the fresh snow, then we would gracefully rise up, close to the rocks formations (felt like you could touch them). Amazing experience. Soon we are coming down for the last time. The skill of these pilots is awesome, not a word I use lightly. He landed the basket ON the trailer! No fuss, no bouncing or bumping. Brace procedure not required. Just gently down. The ground crew lashed it down, and we were helped out. Champagne time! (Turkish sparkling). They didnt need to put it on ice, in fact it was almost too cold but we drank it anyway. Ha ha. Our balloon company was Balloon Turca. They were professional and very skillful, recommend them!! Then back to the hotel for breakfast. We are quiet over breakfast. Each in our own little world. We have done some incredible things and had some amazing experiences, this has got to be number one! I am sure it would be lovely in summer, but the snow made it special as it highlighted the fissures and textures in the rocks. We are very fortunate!

There is a fabulous chinese restaurant in the main street. Its up stairs with a good view of the comings and goings on the street below. Best sweet and sour chicken ever! Its called the Peking restaurant, check it out if you come to Goreme.