Today was Judi's 21st birthday so we had booked a balloon flight (mine was for my birthday next week). The flight started at dawn, so we were up at 4:30 am for a transfer to the balloon company's office. This was a restaurant 5 miles away where we all had breakfast (Ken moaning he could have had another hour in bed). Suddenly we were all off, piled into a minibus and drove back towards our hotel and then into a field where the balloon was being inflated. We clambered in, and we were off. Apparently Cappadocia is a perfect place for ballooning because of the winds in the valleys - and the fabulous scenery helps! There must have been 100 balloons in the air or taking off. We thought this would make it less special, but the other balloons made it a wonderful sight. We saw the sun coming up over the fairy chimneys turning all the rocks a different colour.

It was all over too quickly but the landing was different - instead of landing in a field, the pilot set the basket down on the trailer - quite a feat. After that it was champagne and we all sang Judi Happy Birthday. I think all Judi wanted for her birthday was the handsome pilot!

After another breakfast (it was 4 hours from the last one!), we set off to explore some of the valleys around Goreme on foot. We hopped on a bus to the next village and started walking. It was 10am and already getting hot. We began by doing the Rose valley - called that because of the stone. There were caves hollowed out in the cliffs and chimneys. Some were used as churches (complete with frescos), others as pigeon lofts and in some, people used to live in. We then clambered up a ridge to find amazing views of the valleys. Fortunately, just down the other side was a café hewn into the rock that did fresh orange or pomegranate juice. How he gets the fruit there I don't know as he is 5 miles from the nearest track up a steep valley.

We arrived back for some quick refreshments and a sleep at the hotel. We ventured back out to see the sunset from the ridge overlooking the Goreme valley. After that we had dinner at a lovely family owned restaurant - so good we booked for the following night. Almost a perfect day (Judi didn't get her pilot)!