We were up at 4.45am for a 5.15 departure to the take-off point for a hot air balloon ride at sunrise. About 15 minutes in the bus and we arrived in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere with "fairy chimneys" around the horizon. 
We were served tea and biscuits while we waited for the balloons to be set up and get our flying instructions. As it began to get light, a number of balloons rose up from behind the nearby rocks and floated over our heads. A line up of maybe 10 balloons in our portion of the area were laid out along the ground and the sound of fans filled the air as they were each inflated to the point of beginning to lift vertically.
We were loaded into the basket (19 of us) and drifted slowly upward to join approximately 50 other balloons. 
It was a truly amazing experience and felt like a slow and peaceful (except for the occasional burst of hot air into the balloon) drift across the valley. 
The sight of all the other balloons was quite lovely and although directional control is only up and down, balloon operators kept in touch with each other via radio phones and indicated what they intended to do to avoid each other. 
We had almost an hour in the air and then descended to land which went quite smoothly although at one point we were heading straight for this (red and white) balloon and had to go up in the air again to avoid it. 
We celebrated with the ritual of a glass of champagne and by this stage it wasn't even 8 am!!!
We were served tea and biscuits while we waited for the balloons to be set up and get our flying instructions. As it began to get light, a number of balloons rose up from behind the nearby rocks and floated over our heads. A line up of maybe 10 balloons in our portion of the area were laid out along the ground and the sound of fans filled the air as they were each inflated to the point of beginning to lift vertically. We were loaded into the basket (19 of us) and drifted slowly upward to join approximately 50 other balloons. It was a truly amazing experience and felt like a slow and peaceful (except for the occasional burst of hot air into the balloon) drift across the valley. The sight of all the other balloons was quite lovely and although directional control is only up and down, balloon operators kept in touch with each other via radio phones and indicated what they intended to do to avoid each other. We had almost an hour in the air and then descended to land which went quite smoothly although at one point we were heading straight for this (red and white) balloon and had to go up in the air again to avoid it. We celebrated with the ritual of a glass of champagne and by this stage it wasn't even 8 am!!!On our return to the hotel we had a quick breakfast and left for our day of sightseeing at 9 am. During the day we visited a number of rock formations in the Goreme, Avanos, Pasabagi and Red Valley areas. Some of the rock formations continue to be used as restaurants etc, or in this case, the Jandamari (Police Station).
We also visited a ceramics centre and an onyx factory (each with the standard demonstration and opportunity to buy). We also visited the Goreme Open Air Museum which contained a number of early Christian churches which had been created from caves in the hillside and were up to 2000 years old with primitive frescoes (2nd Century) through to quite recent (17th Century), sophisticated paintings. For much of the time the area had housed monks who also worked in the community. Photos were not permitted inside the buildings (which were basically unlit caves anyway).
Tomorrow we head off for Ankara and visit Ataturk's Mausoleum and the Anatolian Civilizations Museum on the way.
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