Turkey from above

Our next stop on the lap of Turkey was Cappadocia. It is an area full of 'Fairy Chimneys' and riddled with caves that have been used for centuries to hide and live. Early Christians used these caves to hide and set up churches and there are miles of tunnels, rooms and whole communities underground. From the outside they look like conical shaped chimneys with irregular holes in them. Driving and walking through them is great but undoubtably the best way to see the land is by hot air balloon. In fact there is an entire tourist industry based on hot air ballooning. Goreme is the name of the town and it has a certain touristic feel married to a local culture, if some what oportunistic. It was here that I found a 'real aussie meat pie' that was nothing of the sort. I have seen a few places around the world advertise the elusive real meat pie, but they always fall short, way short. For our balloon ride we had to get up at 5am, which made me think twice if I wanted to do it. There are a rare few things in this world that are worth getting up so early. We got picked up by a van with a dozen other people in it and drove about 10 minutes away to a large wooden hut in a field for our free "breakfast" which turned out to be tea, coffee and breadsticks. When we asked if there was anything else to drink we received a look of combined loathing and puzzlement and a rather short answer "no". We were only there less than five minutes when someone approached us and ushered us outside to another awaiting van. Apparently this company had overbooked so they were palming us off to another one, of which there are many and, as I understand it, are all part of the same conglomerate, so it really doesnt matter to them which company we go with, the money all goes to the same place in the end. The second van took us to a second hut in a second field with a second breakfast, again of tea, coffee and breadsticks. By this time, even though it was still dark, there were some balloons being prepared. I had never seen this before and was interesting in how it is done. The balloon and basket is laid flat on the ground and two large fans are placed either side of the basket facing the balloon. These fans inflate the balloon with normal air, until there is enough space to light the burner. Still lying on the ground, the burners are lit intermittently, heating the air inside the balloon until such time as the team feel it is ready. Then the basket is righted and the burner is used in its upright position until the basket is just starting to lift off. It is at this time that the passengers are squeezed in, five to a compartment that would comfortably fit two, with six compartments in all, four for passengers and one central one for the pilot. Just as the sun was coming up, so we also went up, along with at least 25 other balloons. I thought we would head straight up and get a good birds eye view of the land, but we spent a good 15 minutes at about the height of just above power lines. At the time I was thinking the pilot is either very skilled or very green. It turns out he was very skilled and was taking us almost withing arms reach of some of the taller fairy chimneys before we really took off and gained some altitude. There really isnt too much of a sensation to the balloon, I think mostly due to the quiteness of it, and the slow ascension and descension of the balloon. You really feel like you are floating in the air, which of course you are. The entire ride lasted almost an hour and the pilot put is down exactly in the place where he told us he would, in a small area boxed in by power lines, a road and a gully. Very impressive. We were given a certificate to say that we had been in a balloon (thank goodness too) one issued to Phil Johnson and one issued to Taya Dowelles, I hope that we see her soon to give it to her. A champagne toast later and we were driven back to the hostel were we got into our car for a 10 hour drive out of Turkey. As much as we liked Turkey, it felt good to be leaving and heading for somewhere new. Bulgaria