Chasing Sunrise by Balloon (and Cats)

Today was a monumental day. Kate had around 8 unsuccessful attempts at taking a hot air balloon ride in the UK, and today, in Cappadocia, we were lucky to finally take a ride together - along with around 50 other balloons at sunrise!
There are 9 places in Turkey do hot air ballooning and various around the world, but Cappadocia is arguably the most iconic. There WAS the 5am hotel pickup to start with, but it was 100% worth it, especially to be back to enjoy the delicious breakfast buffet for 8am!

We arrived in the valley whilst the moon and stars were twinkling above, illuminating the fairy chimneys. As we watched the crew unpack and inflate our balloon, others also began to appear around us, being lit up in flashes as gas fires within were ignited. We climbed into our basket and watched the field grow smaller beneath us. Kamil our pilot was excellent, we glided through the valleys and canyons, the sun appearing as we climbed from a particularly picturesque section, before climbing to 1100m, then gently descending onto the trailer we left an hour before. The vistas were spectacular, like nothing we’ve seen before. The company (Urgup Balloons), were fantastic and we toasted a successful ride upon landing and received our certificates.

The afternoon was spent exploring Goreme and visiting the cat cafe we spotted yesterday. It was beautifully decorated in a retro way, and we enjoyed cortados, home baked goods, cat cuddles (Cindy Paw-Purr chose me!) and backgammon well into the afternoon.

The remainder of the day was crosswords, picnic, games and pure relaxation after the early start, before tomorrow’s jam-packed day!Read more