Monday 14th December - Göreme

It was a 0545 start today as we’d decided to give ourselves an early Christmas present and booked a balloon flight.  It’s the thing to do if you come to Cappadocia, as was demonstrated at the start site for the flight where there were 15 balloons being inflated by several different companies.  Although we booked through the hotel we got a good company in Ürgüp Balloons who clearly knew what they were doing and only took 10 people at a time - some of the baskets we saw took about 20 people which would probably have made for a less fun flight.  We were provided with breakfast whilst the balloon was inflated, I’m not sure chocolate cake was really what was needed at 0600 but we gave it a go.  When the crews finished with the fans and started using the burners to inflate it was a great sight as, all around us, balloons were illuminated against the dawn sky.

It didn’t take long before we climbed in and peacefully rose into the air, the fairy chimneys stretching out below us.

It was a great experience, the weather was good (we even had sun towards the end of the flight), the wind took us in the best direction for appreciating the scenery and our fellow ballooners weren’t annoying so I didn’t get the urge to chuck anyone out of the basket.

We got to 750m at one point which was a bit chilly, but it helped us appreciate the scale of the valleys and extent of the incredible scenery that makes up Cappadocia.

It was all over too quickly as we landed after an hour with barely a bump from our excellent pilot.  It was entertaining watching the ground crews chase the balloons as they landed, ours eventually managed to catch up with us after a few wrong turnings into fields (which was good as they had our post-flight champagne - aka fizzy wine!).

The pilot was telling us afterwards that all the balloons in Cappadocia are made in Bristol, we’ll have to try to get him a discount the next time we visit Mike’s parents there.

Although the urge to return to bed was strong, we decided to check out Ihlara Valley, about 50 miles south west of Göreme.  We were side-tracked by a bit of off-road exploration on the way, it’s impossible to ignore an inviting looking track.

We eventually emerged on the road in one piece, although the awning’s a bit scuffed from an unhelpful overhanging rock.

Due to the detour, we got to Belisirma (half way down the Ihlara valley) a bit too late to go for too much of a walk, but we managed a quick amble by the river and some exploration of the rock cut churches in the area - those Byzantine monks were at it again.

The churches were impressive, some still having frescos.

We also checked out some of the cave houses alongside the churches which still seem to be in use, although only for animal shelter and crop storage.

On the way back we stopped off at Selime Monastery which is fantastic, we had a really good look around it before the ticket man eventually came to kick us out and lock up (which was probably a good job as we’d got a bit confused about how to get down after scrambling through a few too many tunnels and passageways).

It had the usual quota of stables, kitchens and places of worship, all with stunning views.  I sent Mike up a dark hole in the ceiling of one cave to see what was up there, I would have gone but we only had the one torch.  Just precarious steps, a small room and a sheer drop out of a window apparently, although his voice was a bit muffled so I couldn’t be sure.  A bit bored, I then wandered off to leave Mike to back out of the dodgy passageway and lower himself down the rickety ladder by himself; he was very grateful for that.

The evening was spent culling the 499 photos we managed to take between us on the balloon flight and making a few phone calls. We managed to still not get hold of our shipping contact in Aqaba, he’s being worryingly elusive. We’re now wondering whether we’re going to be able to ship out of Jordan after all.  We’ll keep pressing on for now though, we have time before we need to consider other options.

Posted by Anne.