This morning we went Hot Air Ballooning. We did not choose to do the early morning sunrise flight but went for the second one at 730. Both of us have a thing about heights – WE DO NOT LIKE HEIGHTS! However we could not get all the way to Cappadochia just to watch. When we got to breakfast you could still see the dozens of balloons in the air and the anxiety started to kick in. Once we got in the balloon we saw that we could put on a belt (not compulsory) attached to the basket. The anxiety left and the excitement took over. There were 20 of us the basket which is divided into 5 compartments. One for the 2 pilots and 5 gas bottles and then 5 people in each of the other 4. After going through the emergency procedure which was
crouch and hang on for dear life we took off or more appropriately floated off.

Apart from the direction we flew in there was quite a lot of control in the balloon. Of course there was up and down but it could also be swivelled to give everyone a good look. Response to control changes was slow and that made for some interesting near misses of rocks, trees etc. all put on for our benefit no doubt. Apart from the noise of the 4 flame throwers which were not on all the time it was silent. One of the balloons flying along side us entered the clouds and we did not see them again for about 10 minutes.

Landing was fun. As we got close to the ground a rope was thrown out and 4 of the guys on the ground who had tracked us down grabbed it to try and hold and steady the balloon. The next step was to hold the balloon steady while the trailer arrived and then there was a lot of activity to get the basket on the trailer. The basket was too heavy to lift so it was manipulated on by making the balloon lift then drop a number of times. Once the basket was on the trailer we drove around the field with balloon still inflated and us in the basket until they found a clearing suitable to deflate the balloon. Then we got out, had a glass of sparkling grape juice (they called in Champagne) and back we went into town. What a great experience – we would recommend it to everyone.

Back at the hotel we had breakfast then headed for the Uchisar Castle. The castle was built into the rock, like everything else in this region, and was on the highest rock in the area. We did not go into the castle but walked to the top of the rock for a great view of the region.

Next we headed for Pigeon Valley. The valley has a lot of natural cliffs and man-made caves. Most of the caves have now been closed off except for holes which allow pigeons to nest in the caves. The valley can be walked however we did not do this.

We now drove to Urgup for lunch after which we continued on to Sinasos. In Ottoman times Sinasos was mainly inhabited by Greeks. Like many cities in the region, the inhabitants were pushed out during the population exchange and replaced with Turks expelled from Greece.
There is a huge number of renovations underway in the city.

Finally we went to a carpet shop for a carpet making demonstration. The demonstration included the extraction of the silk from the cocoon, the spinning and dying of the silk to the making and washing of the carpet. It also included a comprehensive explanation of how carpets are priced based on the material used (silk or wool), the number of strands of silk or wool in the thread used and the number of knots per centimeter. You all know what the next part of this – the showing of the carpets and then into the warehouse for the hopeful sale of the carpet. We saw carpets of pure silk on silk (8' x 6') selling for US$75,000 down to carpets selling for less than $1,000. There was no real pressure on any of us to purchase unlike the time when we acquired a carpet 2 years ago in Kusadasi. All in all it was a good informative experience.

We ended the day at a well know restaurant called Ziggy for an excellent (and our most expensive) dinner before crashing.