Day 9 of Turkey Vacation: Hot Air Balloon and Green Tour of Göreme on August 27th, 2016

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The second day in the beautiful Cappadocia region.
The plan of the day was to take the signature hot air balloon ride for an aerial view of the spectacular landscapes of Cappadocia, and then take part in the Cappadocia Green tour.

So at 5am we were picked up by the balloon company, that ferried us from our cave hotel to their headquarter just outside the town center of Göreme, where we were given a buffet breakfast, typed our names (for insurances purposes, and for it to appear in the certificate after landing)

Maccan Balloons Breakfast Lounge

The images in this post are hosted on Imgur. Email me should there be any display problems.

Oh, the breakfast service was there not just to fill our stomach up, since it’s very early in the day, getting to sit there talking to fellow travelers would be of great help to wake one up for the magnificent scenery ahead.

Maccan Balloons Office Exterior

About the choice of balloon companies, this was the only thing we booked through our hotel. Since the year 2016 was not one of the good years for the Turkish tourism industry amid terrorist attacks all over the nation (I might be exaggerating a little bit here), the quotes from the balloon companies were quite lower than what I previously saw online. The quotes from the companies were roughly similar, and we paid 110 EUR per person in cash for Maccan Balloons.

Some more about the choice of balloon companies, it seemed that most balloons would take off from the same location (an open field North of Göreme) and landed in similar locations (fields North-West of Göreme). Based on my observation the next morning, I’m sure that some (but very few) companies have at least their unique takeoff sites (I think “Cappadocia” is one of them). But for me, I sort of liked various colorful balloons in my photos.

After breakfast, we were again ferried to the balloon launch site, where the crews were already firing up the balloons.

Balloon Flight Preparation

Balloons Kissing Each Other

Balloons Taking Flight

Our balloon took off at 5:56 in the morning. Much to my displeasure, of the total 65 minute flight, I lost 35 minutes of GPS tracking, which meant I wasn’t going to post the tracks here.

And since we were at the time of the day when the skies were most vividly colored, I processed almost every one of the following photos, particularly adding their saturations.

Balloons Taking Flight

Rocks near Balloon Launch Site

Balloons Taking Flight

Flying over a Car

Balloons in Cappadocia

Balloons and Rocks in Cappadocia

Balloons in Cappadocia

Balloons in Cappadocia before Uchisar Castle

Balloons in Cappadocia before Aktepe
Sun rising.

Balloons in Cappadocia

Çavuşin Cave Village from Above

Balloons in Cappadocia

Landscape of Cappadocia

Balloons in Cappadocia

Rising Sun over Aktepe

Town of Çavuşin

Balloons over Cappadocia Love Valley

Balloons over Cappadocia

Balloons over Cappadocia Love Valley

–

Balloons over Cappadocia Love Valley

Balloons Landing in Cappadocia

Balloons over Cappadocia

Balloons over Cappadocia
With Balloons landing and people taking wedding photos.

Balloons over Cappadocia

Shadow of Our Balloon on Rocks

Balloons over Cappadocia Grape Fields

Flying over Grape Fields in Cappadocia

Flying over Grape Plant in Cappadocia

Flying over Grape Fields in Cappadocia
Flying over Grape Fields in Cappadocia

Flying over Grape Plant in Cappadocia

Balloons over Cappadocia

Balloons over Cappadocia before Uchisar Castle

Balloons over Cappadocia

Balloon Overlooking Farmlands of Cappadocia

Balloons over Cappadocia before Uchisar Castle

Flying over Grape Fileds of Cappadocia

Balloon Landing in Cappadocia

Balloons over Cappadocia

Balloon Landing in Cappadocia

Fields of Cappadocia

Valleys of Cappadocia and Balloons

River Kızılırmak Flowing through North Cappadocia

Balloons over Cappadocia before Nevşehir

Balloon Overlooking Valleys of Cappadocia

Overlooking Town of Uchisar

Valleys of Cappadocia

Balloon Overlooking Valleys of Cappadocia

Trees in Cappadocia Valleys

Balloon Overlooking Valleys of Cappadocia

Balloons over Cappadocia Valleys

Balloon Overlooking Valleys of Cappadocia

Valleys of Cappadocia

Balloons Landing

Tractor Pulling Landing Platform

Our pilot tried to land our balloon on this tractor, but the winds and residue speed of our balloon made him try twice before we were safely on the ground.

Balloons Landing in the Field

Flame Burst in Balloon

Flame Burst in Balloon
I modified this picture so that the flames look prominent.

Cords at the Side of Balloon

Deflation Port Open

Crew Deflating Balloon

Our Deflated Balloon

Crew Folding Balloon

After landing there was Champagne celebration and certificates being distributed, and everyone took their photos with our pilot Ali, which for privacy reasons I won’t post here.

Toast Towards a Successful Flight
Since I don’t drink alcohol, I picked orange juice.

After that we were ferried back to our hotel, enjoyed our second breakfast of the day, (my parents even caught some more sleep) and then at 10 o’clock we were picked up for the green tour.
I remembered that the travel agency guy offered the green tour for 90TL per person, which was reasonable in my opinion.

Hotel Interior

The first stop of the Green Tour was Göreme Panorama, same as the Red Tour. So I will skip it here.
From Göreme Panorama it was a 75-minute ride to the first stop on the green tour, Selime Monastery, which was a giant cave “city” above ground and in much better shape than Çavuşin Cave Village that we visited the previous day.

Mount Gemril in South Cappadocia

Farmlands in South Cappadocia

Hill South of Kuyulutatlar

Farmlands in South-West Cappadocia

Village of Gaziemir

Country Road in South-West Cappadocia

Caves of Selime Monastery

Selime Monastery against Nearby Forests

Tunnels Leading up to Selime Monastery
It’s said that this tunnel use to be camel-passable.

Trees along Ihlara Valley

Footholes on Selime Monastery Rocks

Forest before Yaprakhisar Village

Kitchen in Selime Monastery

Vintage Facilities
My memories are really fuzzy about this part, and could be wrong about their functionalities.

Furnace in Selime Monastery Kitchen
My memories are really fuzzy about this part. Maybe the branches were put there just to warn people from falling through the holes.

Kitchen Window Looking Out of Selime Monastery

Chapel in Selime Monastery
My memories are really fuzzy about this part, and could be wrong about this room’s functionalities.

Passage between Rooms in Selime Monastery

Church in Selime Monastery

Looking Out of Selime Monastery Window

Details of Selime Monastery Church

It seemed to me that the church had been set ablaze in some wars or conflicts, and one can clearly see the burns left.

Opening in Selime Monastery Ceilings

Selime Monastery Cathedral

About this so called “Cathedral”. While I was visiting in Oxford, I remembered how the locals prided themselves of people of a decent city as compared to the country bumpkins of Cambridge, just because Oxford had got Christ Church Cathedral and Cambridge didn’t, and thus Oxford is a genuine city while Cambridge barely qualifies as a town. So the word “cathedral” matters, and not every worshipping place qualifies. But in this Selime residence, there were a chapel, a church, a cathedral right next to each other, but the weight that the word “cathedral” should carry was nowhere to be found.

But back to Selime Monastery, I could see the magnificence of this rather humble “Cathedral” from its ruins, to be fair.

Selime Monastery Chapel

Rooms of Selime Monastery

Caves and Rooms in Selime Monastery

Stairs in Selime Monastery Passage

Concaves in Selime Monastery Walls

Caves and Passages in Selime Monastery

Caves and Footholes of Selime Monastery

Caves and Cone Rocks of Selime Monastery

After that it was a short drive to Ihlara Valley.

The Ihlara Valley is a 14km long valley, and we would walk a small portion of it.

Overlooking Ihlara Valley

Turn of Ihlara Valley

Overlooking Ihlara Valley

Detail of Fresco on Daniel Pantonassa Church in Ihlara Valley

Fresco on Daniel Pantonassa Church in Ihlara Valley

More information about Ihlara Valley and Daniel Pantonassa Church can be found at http://www.goreme.com/ihlara-valley.php .

From then on we walked North in the valley, among trees and brushes, with majestic rock hills on both sides of us.

Creek and Turkish Flag Along Ihlara Valley

Creek Along Ihlara Valley

Trees in Ihlara Valley

Giant Cave in Ihlara Valley

Cliffs of Ihlara Valley

Tiny Farmland in Ihlara Valley

Cliffs of Ihlara Valley

Halfway through the walk we arrived at some shops where we were given 20 minutes of rest. It happened to that lots of ducks were swimming around that area, and people were feeding the ducks from some restaurant-owned recreational wooden booths built on the creek.

Ducks in Ihlara Valley Creek

Sole Duck by Ihlara Valley Creek

Recreation Booths at Turn of Ihlara Valley

Ducks in Ihlara Valley Creek

Duck in Ihlara Valley between Restaurant Chairs

Cliffs of Ihlara Valley

Hills on Side of Ihlara Valley

Cliffs of Ihlara Valley

Creek Along Ihlara Valley

Trees Along Ihlara Valley

Cliffs of Ihlara Valley

Creek Along Ihlara Valley

Cliffs of Ihlara Valley

Cliffs of Ihlara Valley with Caves and Pigeon Holes

Pigeons Flying over Ihlara Valley

Then we exited Ihlara Valley, and right on the exit of Ihlara Valley there were some restaurants. We had our lunch in one of them.

Wooden Tent on Ihlara Valley Creek
They operated as sort of more premium restaurant than the ones our tour group had lunch.

Unlike yesterday’s buffet lunch, today the menus were fixed, and our guide had taken our orders (from 5 dishes) during the previous van ride. I guess the discrepancy in catering standards would largely balance the additional fuel cost of driving the distances and keep the quotes of red and green tours similar.

Soup before Lunch
Overall, I have a phobia about soups that’s not transparent. I don’t know what this soup was made of and I didn’t like it.

Salad in Lunch

My Lunch
Chicken and rice, which was decent given what a low-cost restaurant we were in. I thought in a normal Turkish restaurant one could have this for like 10TL.

Table where We Sat in Lunch
The tables and chairs were rather make-shift.

There were I think 2 waiters, 1 boss and an unknown number of cooks in this nameless restaurant, serving at least 5 vans of people, so they were kept rather busy. ~~Although what they did (delivering dishes, taking away empty plates, that’s all) could be easily automated by machines, I don’t think such low-cost restaurant would consider buying one.~~

Riverside Restaurant where We Had Lunch

After that it was a 40-minute ride to Derinkuyu Underground City, largely on the same route that took us here.

Trees along Ihlara Valley

Farmlands in South-West Cappadocia
The clouds were casting some beautiful shadows on the mountains.

Farmlands in South-West Cappadocia

Farmlands in South-West Cappadocia before Rocky Hills

Farmlands and Hills in South-West Cappadocia

Farmlands in South-West Cappadocia

Farmlands before Village of Sofular

Farmlands in South-West Cappadocia

Hill in South-West Cappadocia

Farmlands in South Cappadocia
Those plastic bags should have something to do with pollination.

Derinkuyu Underground City was the largest underground city discovered in the Cappadocia area. I called Selime Monastery a giant cave “city” above ground, and similarly Derinkuyu Underground City a giant cave “city” beneath ground.

Derinkuyu Underground City Ventilation Shaft

Before entering the Derinkuyu Underground City our tour guide gave us a brief description of the underground city near this Ventilation Shaft (that I would otherwise definitely miss). I took the previous picture placing my cell phone on the metal net on top of the ventilation shaft.

Derinkuyu Underground City Passage

Derinkuyu Underground City Hall

Concaves in Derinkuyu Underground City
I thought they were used to store torches, candles, stuff like that.

Stalls in Derinkuyu Underground City
If I remembered correctly.

The first level of the underground city was primarily used to keep animals, as the tour guide told us that the animal sounds could alert the people beneath of an enemy invasion.

Wine Storage in Derinkuyu Underground City
If I remembered correctly.

Rooms in Derinkuyu Underground City

Derinkuyu Underground City Passage

From there it was a ~~hideously~~ long decent to the core of the underground city. The passage was narrow and cramped. Since it could only afford one-way traffic, we used the primary way of yelling as semaphore.

Circular Stones as Tunnel Blockage
So that the whole underground city could be cut off from outside invasion by moving such a stone to block the tunnel.

Tunnel Leading Deep Down Derinkuyu Underground City

Stairs Leading Deep Down Derinkuyu Underground City

Moss on Rocks

Down there it looked more like a functioning city, with more open spaces (although some areas were off visitor limits). My most fun was finding those ventilation shafts and looking up/down from them.

Rooms in Derinkuyu Underground City

Passages in Derinkuyu Underground City

Looking up Ventilation Shaft from Derinkuyu Underground City

Passage into Derinkuyu Underground City Graves

Circular Stones as Tunnel Blockage

Looking up Ventilation Shaft from Derinkuyu Underground City

Looking down Ventilation Shaft from Derinkuyu Underground City

Looking up Ventilation Shaft from Derinkuyu Underground City

Rooms in Derinkuyu Underground City

Flowers outside Derinkuyu Underground City

We stayed for about an hour in the underground city area. Next stop of the day was Pigeon Valley, another photo opportunity shared with the red tour. From Derinkuyu Underground City to Pigeon Valley it was a 30-minute ride.

Mount Aşıklı in South Cappadocia

Light Falling through Clouds

Traffic Intersection outside Uchisar

Pigeons at Pigeon Valley

Pigeon Valley and Uchisar Castle

Pigeon Flying over Pigeon Valley

Uçhısar Castle and Pigeon Valley

The final stop of the day was an onyx factory and store outside Uchisar. Since I wasn’t interested in stones, I didn’t pay any attention to the pitching of their stones. It was a short 15 minute stay before we were dropped off at our respective hotels.

We took some rest in our hotel rooms, until it was quarter to seven and we decided to head out and watch the sunset.

Aktepe under Sunset

The best place to watch sunset (and sunrise) in Göreme was on a hill to the east of the town. OpenStreetMap marked it as “Sunset Point”, but I didn’t find it on Google.

Goat in Göreme
Surprised that some farmer still kept herds in such town center.

Cave Hotels in East Göreme

From there it was a breathtaking sunset against the rocks and caves of the Cappadocia region. And yes, I photoshopped the photos to make them more breathtaking.

Sunset over Göreme

Town of Göreme Under Sunset

Sunset over Göreme

Sunset Glow on Clouds over Cappadocia

Aktepe under Sunset Glow

Cappadocia and Aktepe Under Sunset

Uchisar Castle under Setting Sun

Sunset over Göreme

Town of Göreme and Aktepe Under Sunset

Sunset over Göreme

Sunset Glow on Clouds over Göreme

Aktepe under Sunset

Sunset over Göreme

Uchisar Castle under Setting Sun

Cappadocia and Aktepe and Göreme Under Sunset

Town of Göreme Under Sunset

Uchisar Castle under Sunset Glow

Lights of Göreme after Sunset

Lights of Göreme Town

Part of My Dinner
Grinded meat mixed into two thin films of bread, which was sort of like Pizza but much softer.

We stayed there until the sun’s fully down, and the lights of Göreme town were on.
After that, we finished dinner in a local restaurant. End to an eventful day.
END

Day 9 of Turkey Vacation: Hot Air Balloon and Green Tour of Göreme on August 27th, 2016 by Huang's Site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Category: Summer of 2016, Vacation in Turkey, Travel

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Day 9 of Turkey Vacation: Hot Air Balloon and Green Tour of Göreme on August 27th, 2016

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