Balloon ride in Cappadoccia

Do you fly a balloon or ride it? The real answer is you experience it!

Truly no Cappadoccia experience is complete without a balloon ride over the incredible cave carved fairy chimneys which are omni-present in the region. Thus, we made sure to absolutely not miss it!

Neither A nor I had ever riden a balloon before but the perspective of doing so in such an amazing place had us tingling with excitment as we booked our flight.

Think about it, floating on a frickin' balloon over a legendarily beautiful scenery with snow covered mountains at sunrise has all the makings of poetry in motion, right?!

Well guys, it was just as beautiful and amazing as it sounds!

We floated effortlessly through the air in the midst of dozens of other balloons in a silence only so often interrupted by hot air being blow up and the odd radio communications from our pilot. All of the 30 or so people on the balloon started off by holding their breath as the balloon slowly but surely went up in the air and then proceeded to be awed by the immensely beautiful valleys and mountains covered in snow that passed below us.

The fairy chimneys seemed truly magical and as the sun exploded over the horizon, we all knew that this had been entirely worth it.

But actually getting on that balloon was far from straight forward.

First of all, the flights are at the crack of dawn so that tourists can enjoy the sunrise. This in turn means that you wake up at night and struggle to get your significant other out of bed in time for the van to pick you up.

If that weren't enough, flights are subject to weather conditions for obvious reasons. For us it meant that we had to try 3 times to actually fly. The first time we got up at the crack of dawn to have our flight cancelled while at the takeoff site, the second time we were told in the evening that there wouldn't even be an attempt and as we saw the balloons be inflated on day 3 we were beyond ourselves with excitement. Yes, A did a lot of girly jumps on the snow with excitement while I kept my traditional blank face of excitement. Ying and yang, right?

And finally, because of winter and of the altitude you reach while flying, it is cold as f#ck!

Oh yeah, I had underpants, a polar sweater, long jacket, gloves and a hoodie but my fingers and toes felt like they wanted to explode from the cold and as much as I adored the magic of flight and the quiet stillness of floating through the winter air, I was fairly relieved to be landing after our 50m ride so that I could attempt to warm myself up.

On that note, kudos to the balloon pilots and their teams for actually landing on the balloon trailers attached to the jeeps. Never imagined that kind of precision from something that looks to be randomly drifting through the air.

In the end though, frozen extremities aside, this was a phenomenal experience and the non-alcoholic champagne toast at the end of the ride was the coronation of our magical time in Cappadocia.