In my last post, I wrote about my birthday, and I told everyone that I would soon write about the biggest gift I was given for my birthday. And so my story began! This gift is rather an event that I have been waiting for for more than two years, and it is one of the most interesting things I have done in honor of my birthday. Especially for this, we went from our city of Kemer in Turkey to the city of Aksaray where we rented an apartment. We planned a trip right away for the next day, so in fact we didn’t even get any sleep. We had to leave for our destination at 3:00, so from 1:00 it was almost impossible to fall asleep. So, since I have already told so many details, let me “spill the tea” of this event. So this long-awaited event is a hot air balloon flight in Cappadocia! When I first heard about this idea about 2 years ago, I wanted to try it from that moment on, but our plans were not going well, and everything was out of time. And now it's finally done! Now let me tell you the whole process in full. When we finally started thinking about how to organize it after a long time, my mother started looking for information about the safest companies. In order to make the search faster, she asked Chat GPT. He really gave excellent and reliable options with a lot of experience. And so from all the options we chose Voyager Balloons. GPT also gave us a number, and so we contacted them, first we found them on the Internet and then we contacted them on Telegram. And so we drove 500 kilometers from Kemer to Aksaray where our apartment was. So getting up at 3 am, in order to catch the flight, since we still had to drive 100 km. You can of course ask why such a long distance, yes, it is very strange, but the problem is that in this area there are very few normal apartments with a good price, and in general in that area there are usually only hotels, and not very cheap ones. After we woke up, we took all the most important things and put on warm clothes, because at such an hour the temperature is the lowest, in flight when you rise to a higher altitude all the more. It was still dark outside, not a single glimmer of light. The reason why the flight takes place so early is because it takes place during the most beautiful time of the day, dawn. The flight itself started at 4:30, when dawn is just beginning. The flight costs 240 € per person, the price of which also includes transfer and breakfast. Although to be honest, you can’t call it breakfast 😅, there were buns with cheese and chocolate, fruits and tomatoes with cucumbers. We didn’t need a transfer, because we arrived in our own car. And so after about 30 minutes (I don't know exactly) we arrived at the place. Most people arrived by transfers from their hotels, but also some people arrived in their cars just like us. We went inside the room, there were already a lot of people there, some of them were already sitting and eating breakfast, another half were standing in a long line for food, and the other was standing in a line to make another part of the payment, to the pre-payment they had made before. This had to be done before going to eat of course 😄. Although the breakfast was not good, we grabbed a few apples and buns with chocolate. When we finished, the first rays of the sun were already starting to break through. And after about another half hour from the time we arrived, we finally set off on our way to the balls. This time we were all riding together in the transfer to our destination.
Upon arrival, it was a truly breathtaking sight! Hundreds of balloons were getting ready to fly, including a two-meter fire to inflate the balloon. When it was lit, I could actually feel the heat on my face! And it was actually a good thing, because the temperature, as I said, was a bit cold. Everyone was bustling around, and there was a magical atmosphere. Pointing to the balloon, we were told that ours was blue, and we all headed towards it.
The captain is visible on this picture ⬆️
The basket was divided into 4 parts, each of which had 5 people. It was quite spacious, and very comfortable, because earlier they wanted to put 7 people in each basket, but we were lucky. Climbing was very easy, fast and fun. At first I thought that the basket would be very dangerous, for example, holes in the floor through which things could fall out, but no, everything was absolutely safe, tightly closed. I was too scared. When everyone climbed in, they explained to us the safety rules, and how to sit down in case of an emergency landing. You need to press tightly against the walls and the floor, and hold on to the wall in front of you with your hands.
After a few minutes, when everyone was sure that everything was fine, everyone took out their phones to take pictures, and the captain asked "IS EVERYONE READY?" we TOOK OFF 🥳!!!! The balloon that lifted us up was simply huge, and with every second we climbed higher and higher. There were thousands of other balloons around us, and time seemed to stand still as I looked around and watched this magical miracle.
We were lucky with the captain, I think, because we found him with a sense of humor (and also with a lot of experience), and when we took off, he played different tunes as we stepped on the gas.
When we got to the top, the pilot announced the altitude: it was 700 meters! The view is incredible, you can see all the mountains and hills of Cappadocia, and the balloons that are everywhere in the air. The sun has already risen, and everything is beautifully lit. Our captain was also our guide, and told us about the places while we were looking at them.
The first place he mentioned was the huge Erciyes volcano. Earlier, when we were driving past it, we thought it was just a mountain, but only later did we find out. It is so huge that there is a huge amount of snow on its top. Fortunately, the volcano is not active now, and its last eruption was 60-70 million years ago. But it left a huge memory of itself. If anyone has ever wondered how these rocky hills were formed, for which tourists from all over the world now come (and this is interesting to everyone), then I will tell you. It is thanks to this giant that Cappadocia now boasts such a landscape. When it erupted, the lava froze, and with a little adjustment of time and water (rivers, lakes, rains), diverse rocks were formed.
Photo of the volcano below ⬇️
The second place he mentioned is the Red Alley of Cappadocia. It doesn't look very red 😅. Although there is a shade. Nevertheless, it seems to be the longest alley in the whole of Cappadocia! I was in a similar place, we walked there when we stopped by, and it is extremely high. It looks like a canyon, and the height is simply enormous.
Red valley ⬇️
While flying, I was just admiring the scenery, the height was huge, I'm not afraid of heights fortunately. The beauty around us took my breath away, the rocks of Cappadocia are something incredible. There is really something special about flying than when you just walk. After a while, we descended lower above the rocks so that we could see everything better. When we descended, we saw a lot of people doing photo shoots in long red dresses. And there were also a lot of wedding photo shoots. Even some people were taking photos on horses. Imagine, they all came here so early for a photo shoot.
The view from a small height was even more impressive. You can see everything that is not visible from below. It was also like a kind of excursion through the park itself, as we saw steep rocks with unique tiles, structures, etc. The texture of these rocks is cool. The beige color and their shape are so unique. Even more impressive is how people came up with the idea of creating houses from them. We flew over the green green grass, which so beautifully decorated the entire landscape. Also below us, right next to the rocks themselves, were the gardens of local farmers. They were very strictly fenced with a net so that no one would tear a single leaf from their plot ☝️.
While flying, our captain also showed the oldest rock formations in all of Cappadocia. Their name is "fairy chimneys" as I found on the Internet, and they were formed 2 million years ago.
When we reached some more rocks, our captain said "TITANIC TIME" and we all flew straight onto the rock. It was a real adrenaline rush, when you could almost touch the wall, although I knew that no one would crash anywhere. Our captain, with his amazing abilities, very skillfully controlled the balloon and thus we flew very smoothly around the rock from above.
After a few more minutes of looking at the rock, we began to sit down, and we landed on a small trailer in the middle of a field. The landing was so soft and professional that we hardly felt anything.
But nevertheless, the captain wanted to joke on everyone, and said "take positions" and only the three of us sat down 😂. In general, the whole flight lasted 1 hour. After landing, several men began to fold the balloon, and since it was quite difficult, some of them began to ride on a string that was attached to the balloon like on a swing. After that, we all got out of the balloon, with a little help from one man's hand.
And I didn't say, but the fee also included glasses of champagne for everyone. And right there on the spot, we drank a glass of non-alcoholic champagne (for those who wanted) and took a few selfies. And after that, we were given certificates of completion of the pilot "school" in your name! It was an unexpected surprise for me. It was really cool when your name was called one by one, and you came out to the applause of other passengers.
(Sorry for so many photos of me)
After the flight, everyone was taken to their hotels, and by the way, thanks to this we saw several incredible hotels made right inside the rocks! Then we were taken to the breakfast place, and exhausted we went to catch up on our sleep 😄.
Bye bye everyone! 🎈🎊🎪✈️