CAPPADOCIA, HOT AIR BALLONS AND WHY THEY ARE A MUST.

One of the most popular activities for people visiting Turkey is hot air ballooning in Cappadocia. The area, reminiscent of a lunar landscape, with its cab houses and particular rock formations, is unique, and there is nothing quite like it anywhere else in the world. Composed of green valleys, quaint villages and towns and other attractions, this place would take months to explore properly, which is why we would recommend you see it from the air.

As we can see from the stories of the Cappadocia fathers, this area also played a role in the very beginning of Christianity, and you may wish to visit the Goreme Open Air Museum, an ensemble of ancient churches and temples made in the caves.

You may also find here a complex of underground cities, built many years ago to protect the locals from foreign invaders. The Selime Monastery, built right into the rock, stands today as a testament to what man can and has achieved.

ABOUT

Until recently, Cappadocia remained largely unknown, visited only by the odd backpacker throughout the 70s and 80s. All this changed with the advent of the Internet, which saw the region rapidly gain in popularity.

Descriptions of the area may sound like they come straight from a fairy tale. Underground cities, cave monasteries and deep gorges which stood as the main protection for early Christians fleeing Roman persecution, may indeed seem a little far fetched. The area is, however, very real.

The cave hotels are not originally man made. Rather, composing the local geographical makeup, the naturally formed caves have been used by humans as shelter for millennia, and were easy inspiration for pioneer hoteliers, who now provide any service which you could need.

The most popular thing to do among tourists in Cappadocia is to take a ride in a hot air balloon, and you can see dozens of them setting off along with the sunrise every single day, the riders enjoying the sound of hot air rushing through the balloon and the sight of miniatures you can find in the baskets. Please note that this may not be suitable for late risers, and the balloons are usually already in the air by sunrise.

You will receive a short safety brief, and then you are off for an unforgettable trip. Be sure to have your camera at hand. As the balloon drifts among existing wind currents which flow through the valleys, the platform remains incredibly stable, and it is easy to forget that your feet have even left the ground, which is perhaps how they became so popular withing the area. Oftentimes you shall climb to up to 1000 feet, descending before once again rising to offer you the perfect view. After having floated over the Goreme Open Air Museum, Uchisar castle and the cave hotels, you may wish to celebrate your new hot air balloon experience with a well earned glass of champagne upon landing. Indeed, to visit Cappadocia without riding the balloons would be like visiting Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF CAPPADOCIA.

The many valleys and gorges of Cappadocia were formed over millennia. The staple "fairy chimneys", smooth and jagged rocks, received their name due to their tall, dominating appearance. The majestic Mount Erciyes overlooks the area, while the famous town of Goreme may seem like something out of the Flintstones. Although it may not seem so today, the area used to be a major point for trade, conveying it importance in matters of defence, as well as political and religious influence. 

Although the Hittites, Persians, Seljuks and others may have come and gone, one thing has remained the same during all this time : the "fairy chimneys", reassembling modern day wind farms. We may thank thousands of years' worth of erosion alongside the mountains of volcanic ash from the nearby Hasan and Melendez mountain ranges for the landscape we have today. Indeed, when the top layer of ash forms a piece of basalt, it eroded, leaving behind a conical rock structure along with a cap. The whitest ash is then turned a black or grey colour by lichens, which protect it from further erosion.

Between the 4th and 13th centuries AD, local tribes realised that they could mould the rock into tunnel networks, houses, churches and shops, although the Hittites had also constructed underground cities many years before.

The Goreme Open Air Museum is the most well known place for visiting old monastic communities. It is made up of over 30 churches and shrines, carved right into the rock, some of which have maintained superb fresques. Explore the valleys, visit underground homes untouched by time and an intricate labyrinth of paths, crisscrossing and winding throughout the area.