Pamukkale is my favourite place in Turkey, but Cappadocia delivered the highlight and the best meal of the trip. It was on my bucket list to ride the hot air balloon here, and the long time dream came true today. This area is not to be missed for any first time visitors to Turkey!
Itinerary of the day: Butterfly Balloons → Cappadocia Home Cooking → "Three Beauties" → Goreme Open Air Museum
My mother, however, was extremely concerned about safety. In recent years accidents had happened in May 2013 (two ballloons crashed into each other) and at the time of writing this report, Dec 2014 (sudden wind had two balloons emergency landed). Tourists had died in both incidents. I had to persuade my mother that I've booked with Butterfly Balloons, the most reputable company in the area, and their perfect flying record should reassure her.
There were dozens of companies in Goreme alone that provided hot air balloon rides. Butterfly Balloons was the most expensive, but I was happy with their service all around. Communications were clear, services were organized and the pilot was skillful. I believed that they would not fly if the weather condition was less than optimal, unlike other smaller companies that might risk their client's safety in desperation for business. They also had monopoly of the best launching spots in the area. Our hotel, Vineyard Cave Hotel, had affiliation with them and we got a free airport transfer as a bonus.
To fulfill the dream of flying over Cappadocia, we had to wake up at the ungodly hour of 5am. Considering that we went to bed at 11pm yesterday, it was brutal. I'm glad I made the decision to fly on this day though, as the following two days we stayed didn't have such a nice weather.
Butterfly Balloons came and picked us up at the hotel and drove us to their office, along with other tourists flying on the same day. After registering each tourist to different pilots, customers were offered free drinks and breakfast while waiting.
Later, we were transported again in different vehicles, according to which pilot we were flying with, from their office to the launching site. Supporting personnels were already there getting the balloon ready.
After the balloons were ready to launch, all the passengers climbed into the 1.2 m high basket. Our balloon had 16 people in it, with 4 people in each corner compartment. It was cozy, but not uncomfortable. Be sure to dress warm as it would be cold up in the air at dawn!
I've never read any reviews of our pilot, Etfal, on TA, so I was worried that we might have gotten a newbie. Turned out although he only had two years of flying experience, he knew his stuff and did an excellent job.
Early morning is the best time for balloons to take off as it is the least windy time of day. It was magical to have sunrise accompanying us as we rose higher into the air.
Balloons from other companies were still on the ground. Hot air balloons moved very slowly so there wouldn't be any motion sickness issues, but we rose fairly high and having only a woven basket around us might be too nerve-wrecking for some people.
The lighting at this hour of day was fantastic for photography. At the beginning of the ride, I only saw Butterfly's balloons, but after we passed a plateau...
An array of colours popped out. Just by the vast number of different balloon showed how many companies were in business.
This was nothing compared to some of the photos I saw prior though, so I didn't have any of the "crowds of balloons" shots. Maybe because it wasn't high season, or the Turkish government had put a restriction on balloon numbers since the 2013 accident.
We flew over the "Rose Valley" (the red and yellow rocks in this photo), which we would hike through two days later.
Etfal descended the balloon several times to get close to some of the "fairy chimneys" stone formations. This video shows how slow balloons move and the occasional noise of bursting fire.
We then flew over a couple more valleys near the Goreme area. They were all hikeable and one could easily stay several days hiking in Cappadocia.
A higher angle of the Red & Rose Valley.
On the left "Love Valley" and on the right "White Valley".
The original name of Love Valley is "Baglidere Vadisi", but tourists had given it the name Love Valley. The naming of White Valley is pretty obvious, but why Love Valley?
Of course it was because there were phallic stone formations! Why not just call it Penis Valley? <---vulgar much
The views from the balloon was absolutely breathtaking, I'm sure to remember this for the rest of my life...
The flight lasted around an hour, which was just the right length of time. We had a smooth landing as Etfal slowly and precisely placed our basket onto the back of a truck. The Butterfly balloon next to us weren't so lucky and they seemed to have a rough landing, so it's important to adapt the "landing position" to avoid injuries!
Tourists were happily helping taking down the balloon as they pushed on the big "Butt".
After the balloon was wrapped up into a ball, the staff picked up some girls (sometimes guys) and threw them onto it, as part of the tradition for completing a safe flight. The other tradition was opening a bottle of champagne. We also received a certificate with our name of in to commemorate a safe ride!
We were transferred back to Vineyard Cave Hotel around 8am, just in time for breakfast. Hotels in Cappadocia were generally good quality, since they were still competing for tourist business, unlike in Istanbul. Our hotel was so nice, I just wanted to spend more time lounging rather than going out about my tourist business.
The breakfast had bread, fruits, olives, cheeses and cured meat, all made fresh on the day.
Cappadocia is generally sunny and the weather was perfect for eating outside of Vineyard's lovely balcony. At the moment I truly felt like the vacation couldn't get any better.
My favourite breakfast item here was the all-you-can-eat honey comb. Turkey is known to produce good honey, but the quality stuff wasn't exactly cheap. Perhaps Cappadocia produced these honey, otherwise I couldn't imagine how they could afford doing this! I love honey, so I was definitely getting my plane ticket's worth every morning...
Hasan, the father of the hotel owners, would come around and ask us what we would like to drink and whether we would like a Turkish omelette (menemen). Who would say no to fresh omelette??
The next thing on our schedule was Cappadocia Home Cooking, a cooking class with a local family. If I could plan the trip again, I definitely would not arrange it on the same day as the hot air balloon. We had such a good breakfast that having a big lunch afterward just didn't work out too well.
At 10:45, the owner of the cooking class, Tolga, came to pick us up and drove us to his home in Ayvali, a small town 20 minutes away from Goreme. We were joined by an Australian lady, Kitty, on the way.
First, Tolga did a brief tour of the house and gardens. All of the ingredients that would be used in the cooking class were grown in their backyard.
We were then introduced to Havva, his mother. She gave us all Turkish names that we would use for the rest of the day.
All the sauces and essentials like tomato paste and red pepper paste were home made.
Tolga was mostly responsible for coordinating with clients because he was the only person who spoke English. His mother Havva did the majority of cooking. Tolga himself used to be a chef, so he joined in from time to time, but otherwise women are usually in charge of the kitchen in Turkey.
We were served first some tea and small biscuits, and the option to buy their printed recipe book for 25TL. The book was beautifully printed (albeit with some English typos) and I still use it after I got home to cook some of the dishes I learned today!
After we did prep work for some time, Tolga's wife, Tugba, joined us. She seemed to be a bit more shy with tourists than Havva was, but also very friendly and hardworking (she was pregnant at the time with their fourth child but still did not hesitate to help!)
Meat stuffed eggplant (karnıyarık pilav ile) was the dish we made that I absolutely loved and continued to cook at home. I only have a photo of the uncooked plate, because we all ate the finished product as soon as it was served and nobody remembered to take a picture...
There was a lot of prep work involved in this dish but I could make a large batch and shove it in the oven. This "drum oven" is a portable oven widely used in Turkey.
I was challenged to make pastry sheet for two other dishes and I kept breaking the sheet. My usual cooking does not involve flour so of course I sucked at it!
One pastry dish was the salty cheese pastry (gül böreği), with cheese and parsley rolled in the sheet and coiled into a spiral.
The pastry sheet was also used to make Turkish ravioli (manti). I don't know what lunatic invented this dish, but these are the tiniest dumplings ever! Each square of pastry sheet is only about 1cm long, and a tiny pinch of the meat filling was wrapped into these tiny squares.
The end result however, topped with tomato sauce and yogurt, was just heavenly. I understand now why the manti had to be so small. The size really enhanced the texture and bounce. I would order this dish in whenever possible for the remainder of the trip, but nothing even came near to the one we made here. Handmade, tiny manti made all the difference!
The dessert was a local treat called "dolaz with honey". It was a sweet starch mixture made with milk, egg and flour. The mixture was heated up in a frying pan and stirred swiftly with a wooden spoon until it reached the consistency of polenta.
I was just drooling over this huge slab of honey comb! Tolga was so generous with the honey so I just asked for the biggest scoop possible.
The dessert was complete when the flour mixture is shaped into a disk and topped with honey.
Aside from the bountiful entrees we just made, Havva also prepared a full table of soups and appetizers. The bulgar soup in the picture is another dish that I continued to make at home, because it was simple but delicious! In fact, everything on the table were way tastier than any other restaurants we went to in Turkey!
From top left of the photo to the right, other foods not yet mentioned: red lentil kofte (mercimek köftesi), shepherd's salad (çoban salata), stuffed squash flowers (çiçek dolması), grape leaves (yaprak sarması), homemade pickles (köy turşusu), bread, cheeses and yogurt. The squash flowers were also one of my favs.
For backpackers, the cooking class might be too expensive (50 EUR pp +/- 10 EUR pp transfer), but I highly recommend it for for anyone who could afford it. Not only it was the BEST meal I had in Turkey, I learned so much about Turkish family life and its cuisine. Turkish food is so much more than just kebabs!
When Tolga drove us back to the hotel, he was nice enough to stop at the "Three Beauties" stone formation on the way. Also referred to as "Father, Mother and Child" by the locals, this is one of the iconic silhouettes of Cappadocia.
To save on transportation cost, I asked Tolga to drop us off at the Goreme Open Air Museum, then walk back to Goreme afterwards on our own.
Cappadocia is both the natural and cultural UNESCO heritage. The natural part refers to the unique stone formations, and the cultural part refers to the long history associated with this area. It was said to be the starting point of the Hittites, and had a mixture of Persian, Roman and Selcuk influences. In early Christian times, many Christians hide in the countless cave dwellings here to escape from the Muslims.
The Goreme Open Air Museum was a cluster of these Christian cave churches. It was supposedly a must-see of Cappadocia, but I was not impressed at all. It was crowded by coach tour groups, the admission was steep (40TL), and no photography were allowed in the churches (a huge negative point for me)!
The entrances to the churches were so small, so we had to queue at some of them.
The ordinary Christians who escaped to Cappadocia improvised and dug beautiful architecture out of caves, and decorated them with frescoes. They were not professional architects or artists, which made it even more unbelievable that the power of their belief led them to create, even in difficult times.
I sneaked a photo of the "Dark Church", the highlight of the museum, which required extra admission (10TL). While we were inside, the electricity went out, so the Dark Church LITERALLY became the Dark Church! We handled the situation by illuminating the church with my iPhone, but some tourists were pissed that they just paid the entrance fee and didn't get to see anything. As expected, Turkish tourism at popular sight like this would never refund any money!
With the same ticket, visitors could also check out the Tokali Church just down the road from Goreme Open Air Museum. The frescos there utilized a saturated sapphire blue.
At first I thought the Goreme Open Air Museum was ok, but after a few more days in Cappadocia I realized how redundant and unnecessary it was. The churches on hiking trails were more interesting and just as nice, but without the overpriced admission and mobbing crowd. The only case I would suggest to go to the museum would be for those with mobility issues. For anyone intending to hike in Cappadocia, save some time and money and skip the museum.
The Goreme Open Air Museum was about 1km from Goreme town. The walk back was an easy downhill with a few interesting spots on the way. a local potter put their pots on trees along with their banners, which successfully attracted the attention of passing tourists.
Another tree with the "evil eye" nazars hanging over it.
We had been awake since 5am today and barely functioning on few hours of sleep, so we were swamped by the time we got back to the hotel at 5pm. I couldn't imagine how people can do the hot air balloon ride then go through with another 10 hour tour! We decided to skip dinner and went straight to bed, in order to prepare for another early start the next day.
