Cappadocia II

Kama and I woke up around 4:30 AM with a mission: to catch the hot air balloons during sunrise. I had initially scoured for a potential place to look at them but we had to hike there for about 40 minutes or so. We got ready and headed out, on the way to the trailhead for the Love Valley viewpoint, we were suddenly accompanied by a German Shepherd. This dog followed us all the way out of town and into the mountains, all the way to the top. It chased away the cars coming near us, as if it was protecting us, never leaving our side for a moment. It was such a rewarding and profound experience. I was nervous at first if it was going to be the right place or not but the information I had gathered around town should be accurate, the balloons always fly towards Love Valley.

The first sign of the balloons rising started as we saw the shape of distant silhouettes as the rose higher against the hues of sunrise. We picked up our pace, not wanting to miss the moment. We were joined by other cars and soon the buses, but despite the huge number of people, we were able to get a lot of shots for ourselves, all the while being followed by the dog whom we named Bynka. The balloons numbered dozens upon dozens and soon the whole sky was filled with them and they slowly approached us and got larger and larger. The photos turned out amazing and after grabbing some snacks by the food stall, we started the long way back.

We stopped by a cute cafe, manned by a Japanese-speaking Turkish man with his adorable dog, Cinnamon. We got some good breakfast before going back to catch some sleep. Kama wasn't feeling up for a hike today since she got injured yesterday with a jump so it was going to be just me this time around. It was a welcome idea, some solo time in the vast nature should be great.

The route was long but after I got some sleep and the usual lunch at Sedef before beginning my hike. I started at Goreme Open Air Museum where it had one of the most amazing fairy chimneys I have seen so far in Turkey. Then I reached Meskendir Valley where there were a lot of interconnected caves, stopping by a vendor selling orange juice. It was like an oasis in the desert. The hike took me higher towards Rose Valley, characterized by the pink rocks and mountains before reaching Red Valley. It was hard to tell which was which as both had the theme of having pink and red wavey cliffs. I always stopped by any place selling fresh orange juice, the one by the church cave was no exception. The whole loop after Red Valley brought me to even more fairy chimneys before I found myself back at Goreme Open Air Museum again with plenty of time to spare.

I was feeling refreshed despite the long hike and allowed myself to rest a bit. I was later joined by Kama and we went out to get some dinner inside a restaurant in a cave. I wanted to catch sunset at the Sunset Hill thinking it was just going to be a fun place, it was even a bit cloudy so I wasn't so confident if it would be worth it or not but it was just a few minutes behind our hostel so we opted to go for it. Needless to say, it was actually one the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. Being able to see the whole of Goreme with all of its protruding fairy chimneys, cradled by the valley and Uchisar Castle in the distance all the while with the radiant glow of sunset slowly coating the city in its golden light was nothing short of breathtaking. We were mesmerized and spent a long time here and even until the sun had set, watching the city come to life, or should I say light, with thousands of twinkling lights dotting the landscape, it just kept getting better and better. Not to mention how another dog ended up joining me while we sat and watched the sunset. It was like I was in a fairy tale. Kama went back first, but I wanted to spend a bit more time just feeling the wind and the cold. It was a great way to end the day because the next day was going to be another day of chasing after the balloons during sunrise.Read more