Crawling out of bed at 5am to go Hot Air Ballooning wasn't hard at all because we were all so excited. In Goreme approximately 150 hot air balloons fly every morning.
It's a fantastic morning beginning with a light breakfast and drink outside before we were driven to our take off site. We watched the whole process of the balloon being taken off the trailer, being prepared and blown up with large fans. Once we were in, we were given a lesson on how to land and then we were off. The ride was so smooth and the scenery was breathtaking. Our balloon floated above and inside the different valleys and mountainsides. At one stage our pilot came down so low we could touch the tops of trees and see early morning rabbits in the fields. During different stages of the trip he flew the balloon a varying altitudes explaining along the way what we were seeing and how he was controlling the balloon. Our landing was a couple of bumps before the support crew held the balloon down, followed by celebration drinks. It was a fantastic experience in a magnificent location, Leo was also very excited to be awarded with a certificate at the end.
In true travel style our day didn't stop here. We headed back to our pension for another breakfast before meeting up with the Limmers. Today we explored and had lunch in one of the smaller villages. Nikolas was very happy when we found St Nicolas Monastery, another great monastery carved into rock.
By late afternoon we found a road leading to Love Valley. Nicole was clever and found herself a spot in the breeze with a great view, while we went hiking (I think she had the best plan). Hiking in the desert in the afternoon is incredibly dusty and hot, but he views and rocks were just so much fun! Allan, Andy and I had to convince the kids that after several kilometers downhill we should head back, they wanted to keep going ... we were sure the walk back up was going to be challenging but they all did it with fun, laughter and good speed.
After a very long day, Taylor was put in charge of babysitting while the adults went to Turkish night. Without thinking we went without charging our camera, we still got a couple of short video's and a few photos of the dancing before the battery went flat. There were about 15 different dances from across Turkey, musicians, more food and drinks than we could possibly eat. It was a fantastic evening!
No comments:
Post a Comment