Up in the Air – Balloons and Sunrise in Cappadocia Plus Caves

Updated May 2022

I had never even heard of Cappadocia before. But somehow, I stumbled across some photos on the internet, probably on one of my Facebook travel pages I follow.  There were photos of hot air balloons – not just a couple, but hundreds! So many brightly colored, brilliant, gorgeous balloons floating magically over a landscape that looked like another planet!  Where was this crazy place…and more importantly, how do I get there? 🤔

I think that one of the things that makes a good traveler is ‘curiosity’ – and I have plenty of that!  So I did a quick Google search and found out that this surreal place is called Cappadocia and is in Central Turkey.

If, like me, you decide to stay in Europe for more than 90 days, you will start looking at options nearby that are not in the Schengen Zone, which is basically the bulk of Western Europe: Portugal, Greece, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium and more. But not all countries are Schengen; it’s very confusing. Click here for the list. You’re allowed to stay in these countries for a total of 90 days out of 180 days.  So if you’re not ready to head by home, you’ll need to find somewhere else to explore that’s non-Schengen – there’s Ireland, Croatia, Cyprus,  Albania and…Turkey (even though Turkey isn’t ‘officially’ Europe!) After exploring and enjoying Croatia and Montenegro (also non-Schengen) I flew to Istanbul.  And, as long as I was in Turkey, I was NOT gonna miss the opportunity to visit this mystical place just a  twelve-hour, twenty dollar bus ride away!

I booked a bus ticket through my hostel in Istanbul and reserved a bed in a cave hostel, one of the many in the region.  A crazy and fun travel woman I met online through one of the FB women’s travel pages, Marie Arensdorf from Hawaii, recommended Garden Cave, so I reserved 4 nights with the lovely Anna, a Russian woman married to Harun, a handsome Turkish man. And yes, you read that correctly.  A “cave” hotel.

There are so many caves in this area, once used as homes, grain storage and secret churches and now converted into hotels and hostels.  They were carved out of the volcanic formations created a zillion years ago – but read on, dear reader; there’s an explanation coming up.  😉

Anna was fabulous – she arranged the local Green tour for me, (there’s the Red and the Green tour, which explore the incredible topography in the area), she sent me to a winery and took me to a carpet dealer where I fell head over heels in love with a stunning carpet for the princely sum of $8000…and NO I did not buy it!  Gosh, for $8000, I could travel for another 7 or 8 months!! But I did learn about the ancient art of carpet weaving, silkworms and how silk is harvested (sooo interesting!!) and watched women weaving the intricate patterns for the silk, wool and cotton rugs.

But the highlight of my time in Cappadocia was the sunrise balloon ride!  I had looked online for pricing, and it was $200 nearly everywhere.  Luckily, with a little research I found a much better price… Check it out here.

Monday morning arrived and I was ready to go at 6 am. (Yes. I know. Me? Up early?? That’s how badly I wanted to experience this!🤷🏻‍♀️)  I bundled up in my puffy jacket and a scarf, a van picked me up at the cave, and we headed to the open area where the balloons were being readied for flight.

There was coffee and tea, biscuits and muffins for all of us nervous, excited and chilly half-asleep passengers, and we waited and watched in the crisp morning air as the balloons, or “envelopes”  were filled with hot air from the propane burner below.  We all know hot air rises, and that’s exactly what happens – the hot air causes the balloon to fill up and rise off the ground.  Twenty of us climbed into the large rectangular wicker basket and learned how to position ourselves for landing.  As the balloon rose higher into the morning sky and became full, the ropes were untethered… and we floated gracefully into the indigo sky toward the sparkling stars above.

What an incredible sensation – to be standing in a basket, with a roaring fire blasting hot air into a gigantic balloon directly over your head, as you rise into the sky! It was magical! Spectacular! Gorgeous! Fantastical! And there were balloons everywhere!  Above me,  across from me, in the stratosphere surrounding me.  One hundred fifty balloons.  Red. Yellow. Striped. Checkered. Multicolored. Like Christmas ornaments suspended from an invisible tree, the balloons headed ever upward.

And below me!? As astonishing as the scene above me. The topography of this region is otherworldly! Formed by volcanic eruptions from three different volcanoes in the area some thirty million years ago, the ash and mud covered the plateau and hardened and the eventual erosion of the tufa, or tuff, from wind and rain formed the magically unique landscape of fairy chimneys, caves, towers and valleys.  The entire experience brought tears of joy and wonder to my eyes, as I had never experienced anything like this before.

(I took this photo looking straight down at the balloons and the landscape directly below.  On the left is the brown wicker basket in which I am standing.)

To float effortlessly above this exceptionally beautiful piece of the planet was truly a magnificent and spectacular experience.  As the song goes, “the world’s a nicer place in my beautiful balloon; it wears a nicer face in my beautiful balloon.”

When it was time for this magical experience to end (much too soon!) we crouched down in the basket as we had been shown and gently landed in an open field a few miles from where we started 45 minutes earlier.  As the crew began to pack up the balloon and load it onto the trailer, champagne glasses were set up on a nearby table.  The pilot and his crew vigorously shook the chilled bottles of bubbly and uncorked them with a shout of joy…and a blast of bubbles burst into the air and onto the passengers.  After a round of applause, they poured the pink and white champagne into the awaiting flutes for each of us to toast our pleasure! And what a pleasure it was!

şerefe, şerefinize, sağlığınıza!

Cheers!

Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?

We could float among the stars together, you and I…
For we can fly, we can fly! 

 ~ Up, Up and Away song – The Fifth Dimension