Ballooning over Cappadocia

An early call this morning at 3.45, to prepare for our pick up at 4.15. Breakfast was supplied, there were lots of people there, many Japanese among them. It's a trifle strange to hear a Turkish man speaking fluent Japanese. .
We were issued with a pass giving us the name of our pilot, which was also the name of the bus we were to travel in to the balloon site.
Once we got to the site, we saw approximately 60-70 balloons preparing for takeoff.


I had forgotten how difficult it was to clamber into the balloon, and some of the Japanese ladies had even more trouble.


We were up and away within minutes, and had a 65 minute flight, flying at 12 knots, and at 6500 feet up.
Our pilot was Hatem and he was just wonderful. At times we were within 6 feet of the ground, almost touching the hills. It turned out he was both an aviation engineer, a pilot, and an instructor, licensed to fly small air craft as well as balloons.
Once we assumed the landing position, and safely touched down, the ground crew of 7 men folded up the balloon, packed it and the basket away, served us a champagne party, (mixed with cherry juice) and sold us merchandise.





A most wonderful morning, and well worth the 330Euro we paid.

Posted from the Terrace Lounge, Museum Hotel.