Day 91: Cappadocia from Alternate Perspectives

I'd already seen some of the interesting underground bits of Cappadocia - now it was time to see things from higher up. I got up at 3:00am for a 4am pickup that took me to Goreme, about half an hour away, in preparation for a hot air balloon ride. The balloon ride isn't part of the tour, and it is a bit pricey, but it was the one thing that other travellers had told me I should not miss. One of the others from my group was also doing the balloon ride, so I had some company as we headed to the meetup spot. The company we were going with is the largest in the area, and the breakfast with the others was quite crowded. After eating we were shuttled out to fields outside of town in our different groups for different balloons. We got the Mercedes Benz balloon and a pilot (Andrew) from New Zealand. We took off shortly after sunrise and the trip was about an hour over which we varied in altitude between several thousand feet and close enough to the rock that I could almost reach out and touch it. We drifted slowly over the most interesting of the Cappadocia landscape, getting a good look at the sandstone formations and the windows and pigeon holes carved out of the rock. Cappadocia is the most popular ballooning location in the world, and being surrounded by dozens of other balloons just added to the experience.







Once we rejoined the rest of the group we headed back to the Goreme area for a hike through Goreme Valley. Now I got to see the formations up close as we walked along the valley floor. The valley had lots of wild fruit trees - at least plum, cherry, apple and oranges that I saw, as well as small tended farm plots. In the middle of the valley a guy had set up a small rest stop where he sold fresh orange juice - probably from oranges picked in the valley. It was a neat place to chill out. There were also numerous pigeon holes carved into the rock. The pigeon holes are made to attract pigeons, and then the droppings left behind are used as fertilizer.




At the end of the hike we came out in a small village that had this amazing cliff full of dug out rooms. As the others waited for the bus I immediately took off and found a route up to the cliff, and eventually managed to climb up to the top level of rooms. Everything is abandoned now, and the interiors are pretty barren, but when it was inhabited it must have been such a unique place. Even empty I find it gorgeous.



All this, and it wasn't even noon yet. Through the rest of the day we visited the Fairy Chimneys, a handful of Christian churches (again carved into the stone) with frescoes painted on the walls and ceilings near Goreme, Uchisar castle - which is a town around a big hill of sandstone - more rooms carved out on the top, and probably a few other minor stops I'm forgetting.








We finally got back to the hotel, and the remaining 3 others in my group headed off to fly home a few days early to go get back to work - leaving me as the only person left on the tour along with the guide and driver. Even more awkward, not only was I the only person left on the tour, but also we were the only people left in the entire hotel. I have no idea how many rooms the hotel had, but the dining room sat 250 at the same time, so having an entire hotel basically just supporting me felt a bit strange.