Previous Day (North Cappadocia)
Destination: Greece & Turkey
Duration: 18 Days 17 Nights (Aug 06~Aug 23, 2012)
Day 3: Cappadocia
It was 4.30am when we were picked up at the lobby of Burcu
Kaya Hotel with other tourists for the hot air balloon ride. Our hot air
balloon company was Urgup Hot Air Balloon and we were sent to their reception
office to grab some simple breakfast and for coordination as well. We were then
sent to the Hot Air Balloon area based on our sticker color. We booked the hot
balloon tour through Magnificent Travel at EUR120/pax – not sure how much it
cost if booked direct to the balloon company though.
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| Urgup Hot Air Balloon Breakfast Area |
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| Lots of People here... |
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| Writing our Names for our Balloon |
There were tons of balloons at the area as Hot Air Balloon
was one of the most sought-after attractions in Cappadocia. In fact, it was
said it was not to be missed! There were lots of different balloon companies as
well so you might want to do some researches on the pricing and reputation before
engaging one.
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| Lots of Balloons All Around! |
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| They are all Up! |
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| What are these two doing? |
When we reached the take-off area, a lot of balloons were
still in progress to be readied. Basically we were shown the balloon
preparation procedure before we could get in. So we waited and waited but our
balloon was not expanding! What was happening? Other balloons were taking off
one by one now.
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| Everyone is up! Where is our balloon? |
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| Here! Still on the ground... *facepalm* |
The crew went into the balloon and took a look before a
technician was called to fix something on it whilst the pilot assured us that
everything was fine. Hmm… really? =S
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| Checking Checking |
Anyway, our balloon finally fired up and readied to take
off!!! Hooray! We had to crawl into the basket and the pilot started to brief
us on landing procedure. Then off we went! It ascended steadily and we were
treated with the splendid view of Cappadocia landscape on the air.
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| Finally Fire Up!!! |
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| Up Up Up!!! |
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| Getting Higher... |
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| Glad to be Up! |
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| Wonderful View from the Balloon |
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| Fantastic Landscape with tons of Balloons! |
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| Speechless... |
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| Still up here... |
Along the way there were some balloons starting to
descend but we still went on as we were the last balloon to take off that
morning. The ride lasted an hour and we landed steadily on a field. Apparently
hot air balloon did not have a designated place to land! Basically it all
depended on wind and pilot so the pilot was constantly communicating with the
ground crew to track the balloon landing location.
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| Where is that balloon going? See the buses and vans around? Those are the ground Balloon chasers! |
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| Passing Fairy Chimneys |
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| A Panoramic View |
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| Starting our descend... |
We were treated with Cappadocia “champagne” after landing
as it was the tradition. Well, it’s always never too early to enjoy champagne!
We were given certificates as well. =)
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| Cappadocia "Champagne" |
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| Cheers! |
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| Our Pilot! |
They sent the guests back to the hotels and we were able
to enjoy breakfast at Burcu Kaya before being picked up for our day tour.
Breakfast was typical simple Turkish breakfast with hardboiled egg. One thing
we loved about the hotel buffet was baby apricot was always available – it was
yummy!
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| Typical Turkish Breakfast |
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| Love the Apricot |
Our day tour group today only consisted of us, the 2 hot Brazilian gals and 2 Australian guys from yesterday. Since 1 of the Australian guys – Peter had to work in hotel, only 5 of us continued with the day journey. Our 1st stop of the day tour was at photo stop for Ortahisar Castle & Village. In Byzantine times, the rock was used as a fortress and once the whole town lived here. We were not able to get into the Castle as it was closed for visitor now.
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| Ortahisar Castle & Village from afar |
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| Sammy was there! |
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| Zoom in on the Castle, see the holes? |
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| Another Zoom - Those are rooms in castle? |
Then we were told that our next stop would be at Red
Valley for a 1 hour 30mins hike. Let’s rumble! Hmm…… WAIT! Why weren’t we aware
that we had a hiking trip in our itinerary? *gasp* Thankfully I was wearing sport
shoes!
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| Starting Point of our little hike... |
There we were starting our hike, walking along the path
passing farms, chimneys, pigeon houses and cave chapels. Here are some photos
of our adventure!
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| Walking in the Valley |
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| Cave Houses and Pigeon Houses |
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| Plum Tree for our Picking! Our tour guide told us to taste it. =P |
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| Beautiful huh? |
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| Wow! A Cafe halfway into the hike? |
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| Tunnel? |
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| All the Natural Landscape... |
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| In and Out... |
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| Mineral from the water... |
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| Walking under the rock... |
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| Another Rock Formation |
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| Look at the Pigeon Houses |
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| Some Ancient Painting there |
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| Almost there! |
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| Look at the layer of the rock... |
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| Here is our mini bus... |
Our little group proved so effective that we finished the
hike in 1 hour and our mini bus took us to Sinassos (aka Mustafapasa) – an old town
with its spectacular old Greek houses. Apparently Greek used to stay here and
loved it.
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| Sinassos |
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| Another View of the Houses at Sinassos |
We were then sent for a precious stone company to take a
look at their products before going for lunch at a cave restaurant – Karakus.
According to our tour guide, the temperature in this cave restaurant stayed the
same all the time. Even though it was like 35 degree Celcius out there, it was
actually quite chilly inside the restaurant with no air condition at all!
Amazing!
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| The Precious Stone Company |
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| Jewellery! |
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| The Restaurant! |
We were served with yoghurt soup (Yes! Yoghurt!), appetizer
and kebab set. The shredded chicken kebab was delicious! Yummy!
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| Yoghurt Soup - a bit Minty and Sourly... what a combination! |
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| Deep fried pastry with Cheese inside... |
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| Yummy!!! |
After lunch, we then proceed to Kaymakli Underground City
where the local hid for months under the ground to avoid attacks from their enemies.
There were 8 floors in the underground city but only 4 were opened to the
public. This place was not suitable for asthma patients and those with Claustrophobia.
The underground city was chilly like the cave restaurant earlier.
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| The Kaymakli Underground City Entrance |
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| Lots of tourists at the Entrance |
Basically we had to go through all the narrow tunnels in
order to get from floor to floor. Some were so narrow that you had to bend half
of your body to get through. This was where I felt glad that I was not so tall!
Our poor Australian friend Robert had the worst as he was the tallest of the
bunch.
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| Getting into a Tunnel |
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| We are underground! Some of the Storage Rooms |
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| The Door that can only be opened from the inside... |
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| Narrow Tunnel! |
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| Tunnel Tunnel! |
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| Watch your Steps! |
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| A Winery Underground! |
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| Hello Doggie! |
After the underground city, we got to our last
spot on our Cappadocia tour - Pigeon Valley for a last photo chance.
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| The Pigeon Valley |
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| Another Mati Tree! |
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| Sammy! What are you doing? |
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| A Panoramic View of Pigeon Valley |
The 2 Brazilian gals would fly back to Istanbul tonight so it would only left 4 of us (2 Australian guys + us) to continue with our journey tomorrow. We said our farewell and had dinner at the hotel’s dinner buffet before calling it a night.
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| Dinner! |
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| Rice Pudding and Apricot! My 2 favourite desserts in Turkey! |
Next Day (Konya)
Masterpost (Click this to get to day by day link)
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