Up, up and away

Ortahisar.

Sunday, May 31.

Last night’s good news has materialised. We fly!!! We are ready for our pickup about 5.30am. There is no tea ‘ceremony’ today like the other morning. We collect a few more passengers and go straight to our launch site. The morning does not appear perfect but it is dry and calm.

The balloon is already inflated, ready for boarding. Getting into the basket is a little awkward for a few passengers but soon we are all in. There is the usual safety drill by our ‘hostess’ – on landing, all squat on the floor in the brace position. Now please demonstrate you know how to do it. We all obediently do.

A few other people are hoping to get aloft this morning.

And there are more!

In no time at all, the sky is thick with them. There is a lot of hot air up there.

Our load don't look too excited but perhaps everyone is not fully awake yet. We are signing on to the passenger list. The red sleeved guy is our pilot.

About to take off.

We are excited and ready to go – all 14 or so. There is what already looks like a very crowded sky of some 40 balloons well into the air and others about to go. This is not only big business but after two days of cancellations, there are many people, like us, busting to go. Our liftoff is almost a disappointment. Unlike in an aircraft when you hear the rumble of the runway suddenly stop and you experience the sense of detaching yourself from the ground, the balloon lifts off so gently that you have no idea you are actually airborne. Wow! What a great feeling to rise gently and noiselessly, even without experiencing air movement. The ground slowly shrinks away from us and we know we are up because the view and perspective keeps gently changing and broadening. The experience is quite mesmerising; the view captivating. To have a different vista of the landscape completes our appreciation and understanding of the uniqueness and beauty of Cappadocia.

The dark green patch is the vent for releasing the hot air.

This flotilla is a spectacle in itself.

The ground is gently dropping away from us.

Our support and recovery vehicles.

Only four shackles keep us attached to the lump of hot air.

Our pilot takes us up to about 1000 feet and then descends into one of the valleys to give us a different perception of this extraordinary country. We fly for about an hour. The landing is also quite special to a pilot like me when, as we descend, you don’t have any idea just where we will touch down – but the balloon pilot of course has a pretty good idea. Because the breeze is so gentle and the conditions calm, we are told not to even bother about the landing brace position because we have come down in a very controlled manner. Once we are within a few metres of the ground and the balloon hovers, some ‘anchor’ lines are tossed out. The ground crew, who have been summoned by radio, now grab the ropes and pull us into a better location. In fact it could not be a more perfect position because the recovery vehicle has been backed up and our final descent is right on to the trailer which carries the basket!!!

Our new friend Pedro. We are now settled on to the basket trailer.

The celebratory refreshments. The passengers - the ballast - have to stay in the basket until the balloon is almost completely collapsed.

We all disembark while the balloon is partly collapsed. Champagne is offered but it tastes more like flavoured lemonade. After all, we did not come for the refreshments.

In the short post landing rituals and socialising, we meet Pedro from Portugal. He has been working in Australia recently for NBN and will return soon. We tell him how much we enjoyed his country and give him our contact details for when he might get to Brisbane.

After the obligatory selfies by most of the younger passengers, we are asked to hurry on because some of our fellow ballooners have other transport to catch and have to be got to their hotels rather quickly. The driver of our elderly minibus drives like one possessed through twisty and narrow dirt roads and then, when on the highway, even goes through a red light. I trust his urgent passenger tips him well while we sit on the edge of our seats with fingers crossed.

We carry no brief for any balloon company but truly feel that when in Cappadocia, a balloon flight is a must.

In the grounds of our hotel are various heritage farming items. One is a cart completely made of wood. 

Back at our lodgings, it is breakfast time. A few weekend guests have arrived and it feels quite busy. I am excited to download my pictures to check. Exposures at times were a little tricky because of the contrast between the sky and the ground. However, I am quite happy. By the end of the day, I have taken 455 images, close to a new record for the day.

Lunch with the locals.

Lunch is at the, by now, favourite restaurant just up the hill. On the recommendation of our Dutch friends, we don’t even ask what is on the menu – just give us the soup. It comes in a sizeable bowl with straight out of the oven bread, almost too hot to touch. Great – and all for 10tl for both of us. Where could you get this in Australia for $2.50 each!

The Dutch neighbours have not only been sociable but helpful too. They suggest a walk to the Hallac Monastery. They even give us the scratchy map that someone drew for them. Off we go. We have to ask for directions a few times but continue on what we believe to be the right way, past the cemetery. Somewhere along the way, it turns out we have taken the wrong fork. When a lonely car pulls up, we ask him where to the Hallac place. He chuckles in reasonably good English and tells us we are on the wrong track. But why don’t we jump in and he will take us. Kindly he drops us right there. How very considerate from him. He was heading for a place further down the road to his brother’s riding ranch.

Cappadocia no doubt has more potential tourist sites of varying interests than it can either use or conserve. This used to be a monastery as well as a hospital, we are told. There are numerous rooms as well as churches. The curious thing is that they reflect architectural forms of other stone built churches. To a large extent here of course you can carve out almost any shape, yet it is more conventional building spaces which are mimicked. To us, these spaces are as interesting and attractive as any we have seen; yet hardly anyone seems to come here. We had been told that a group had an evening party there last night. It would have been a cosy setting for something that the original occupiers would never have dreamed of. 

It's coming and we got caught in it.

Our route takes us past the town’s cemetery again. It is a nice location, overlooking the town. One of our hosts Onur tells us that his folks are buried there. As we return, the weather starts turning sour. The sky darkens and there is some thunder. For a little while it keeps circling us but finally we are caught. We get a bit wet but we have had an important local experience. It is almost as if we are ready to leave Ortahisar which we are doing tomorrow.

On the way to dinner, we stop for a social chat to Fatma and Onur and are introduced to their other guests – a young couple from Peru. Both are currently based in Qatar. She is an architect; he flies Boing 777’s (in the right hand seat) for Qatar Airways. Being in the hospitality business in a place like this can be very sociably entertaining and interesting.

At dinner we meet our Dutch friends at our joint favourite eatery and say farewell. They have just arrived. We hope we have not cleaned up the best of tonight's offerings. 

It is still spring in Cappadocia.


As I posted this episode, I noted that some of the images contain quite a lot of interesting detail. By clicking on the images, they can all be viewed in a bigger format, almost full screen.