Thirty million years ago, volcanic eruptions deposited massive amounts of ash and mud upon the area now known as Cappadocia, Turkey. Through the years erosion has shaped the area into an other-worldly landscape. From the earliest time of man, cave dwellers have lived here. Entire cities were built underground, some 11 levels deep into the ground able to accommodate thousands of people. Monasteries and churches were carved into the ground…the altars and seats chiseled from the stone. Some are intricately painted. Christians hid from Roman soldiers. The history of this area is astonishing. If you are interested in reading more, see HERE
Flying Over Cappadocia
There are over 25 balloon companies here and at any one time 100 balloons can be seen floating over Cappadocia. We booked a hot air balloon flight with Butterfly Balloons. We lucked out and grabbed a spot for an extra long flight in a little smaller basket….it was just us, Kevin, an oil and gas engineer from Scotland, Sylvia, a flight attendant from Indonesia (Singapore Airlines), and Max, a Doctor of Philosophy from Russia, and of course Bozlak, our pilot. We were picked up bright and early (4:25 am), given a light breakfast, and ferried to our balloon. We got there just before they turned the burners on. We scurried into the balloon, received our safety talk, and lifted off into a clear blue Cappadocia morning. I cannot find the words to describe the landscape of Cappadocia so instead of trying I’ll add a lot of pictures. At one point during our flight, we entered Love Valley, and just as we descended down among the Fairy Chimneys, Kevin handed me his phone and asked if I would man the video. He got down on one knee, pulled out a diamond engagement ring and asked Sylvia to marry him. She accepted!!!! Pretty cool. Our balloon continued to soar well past the others and finally landed in a wheat field, and get this, Bozlak touched down right on the trailer, I mean RIGHT on the trailer…AMAZING!!!!
We helped to deflate the balloon and then had the traditional champagne toast, but in addition, it was Sylvia’s birthday and Kevin arranged for a birthday cake (does that guy get brownie points or what!!!!) We were all rather giddy after the flight….a time to remember to be sure.
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- Filling the balloon
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- Early morning lift off…air nice and cool, perfect for our flight
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- Beautiful
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- Over a grape field
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- Way up high
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- Floating over a sleepy village
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- Surreal landscape
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- Are we having fun yet?
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- Some cave dwellings
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- The intrepid Captain Bozlak
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- The Cappadocia morning filled with balloons
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- Part of Love Valley
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- Fairy chimneys
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- WOW.
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- Our balloon shadow.
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- unusual landscape
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- Everyone WAVE!!!!!
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- Such control…Bozlak was the first Turkish national to receive his flight certification.
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- Engagement!!!! Ahhh!!!
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- helping to deflate
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- Balloon collapsing on us
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- down in a wheatfield
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- Basket now filled with flowers and our post flight celebration all set up
There is truly nothing like a balloon flight, and when you add the landscape of Cappadocia and doing it with someone you love….well, it’s magical.
Our Adventures 
You must have been “flying high” on your journey over Cappadocia. What a beautiful story of sight-seeing, love, engagement, birthday celebration and good company!
Hi Karen….glad you are reading our blog. It truly was a magical time. Turkey is a most amazing country…beautiful sights, beautiful people, delicious food….next we are off to Greece…Santorini, Crete, Athens and Nafplio.
Hi Bob and Heidi: I am glad you will still blog your adventures….I couldn’t agree with you more, regarding your first post about traveling widely is the best way to understand that people everywhere have the same simple hopes and desires about living; about their families. I will never choose to go to massive urban areas (aversion to crushing teems of people) but will find out about Istanbul, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Mumbai, etc from travelers like you, and find the commonalities of humanity in the Chaco of Paraguay or a tucked away village in the wilderness…
Love learning through you
Hi Chris,
Loved your note….and happy you enjoy the blog.
I too prefer the smaller, remote, tucked away little villages and hamlets, but I have to say that I enjoy many of the sites and historical locales sometimes located in larger cities. Crowds tend to bother me, but am willing to put up with them to see and experience spots like Hagia Sophia. Give me an empty beach on the island of Molokai any day.
We head to Greece tomorrow…looking forward to exploring the island of Crete.
Stay tuned!!!
So beautiful! There sometimes isn’t any better way than to experience the scenery than from the air.
I LOVE the engagement story. The effort people put into memory making touches my heart. They look happy, Like you said in a previous post, people just want to be happy and loved. This is a great example=)