Ballooning in Cappadocia
Thursday, June 26th, 2008 
It’s almost impossible to describe the landscape in Cappadocia. Formed millions of years ago by 3 volcanoes, years of erosion, water, oxidation and wind have combined to create incredible, magical formations referred to as fairy chimneys. (You’ll need to check out the photos below to truly understand.) The towns making up the Cappadocia region are dotted with caves, now used as homes, boutique hotels and bars.
Because of this incredible landscape, Cappadocia is said to be the world’s top ballooning destination. There aren’t a lot of things that gets Brel out of bed at 4:15 a.m., but the 2 hour ride over Cappadocia was well worth it. Going as fast as 21 knots and traveling more than 22 km, our vantage point was second-to-none. Ballooning, unlike some of our recent adventures, is a smooth and gentle ride where you have the opportunity to see the fairy chimneys from as close of 1 inch from the ground, to as high as 1,000 metres.
As luck would have it, we came into the landing at 22 km/hour, which basically meant we had to prepare for a ‘controlled crash landing’. Don’t worry Mom, it happens all the time. Our basket landed sideways – see pic below.
We celebrated with champagne (yes it was before 8 a.m) in the poppy field where we landed.
By the Numbers
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Hi Jack!
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pichemelanie