The alarm went off way too early this morning. I knew it would be worth it but waking up any time before 5 AM when you're on holiday just seems wrong.
We were shuttled to the hot-air balloon headquarters for breakfast while they filled the balloons. We couldn't help but notice the poster of Martha Stewart who flew with them last year. I think they were proud of their claim to fame!
I was less apprehensive on this balloon ride than the last one and before I knew it, we were up in the air joining the 70-odd other parts of the colour parade in the sky.
It really looked like Bedrock. I wouldn't have been surprised to see Fred Flintstone there! The area is known to be one of the premiere ballooning sites in the world and I can see why.
We celebrated the flight with mimosas at the landing site which was a nice touch.
Back at the hotel we had just over an hour to chill, eat, shower and, in my case, work on switching my hotel. If you use the word 'disappointed' to a tour operator, which I did in the email I sent the night prior, they usually take action. With a little doing and an extra $125US, they got me in to the same cave hotel that Eileen and Debbie were staying in. But I didn't check in until many hours later since we still had a full day ahead of us.
Everything kind of blended together but before lunch we hit the Kaymakli Underground city, a jewellery factory (read: gift store), and stopped to take pictures of fairy chimneys near the Red River.
Lunch was in a cool cave-like building with a great atmosphere but it wasn't a tasty as our road-side lunch the day prior.
After lunch we hit a ceramic factory where they showed us the spinning and painting of some gorgeous but sadly out-of-my-league pricing. It would have been nice to buy something at the source but anything I liked was hundreds of dollars!
The Goreme Open Air Museum was a pretty cool stop. It's not surprising that it (and the underground city) is a UNESCO world heritage site. It's the site of a series of Christian churches built into the caves. They were quite interesting but we were all getting tired and fighting with other tourists and the weather.
After a few more photo stops I finally got to see my beautiful and luxurious cave hotel room. I did good. Sometimes when I splurge it really isn't worth it. This was. It was a unique experience and SOOOO gezellig!
But I didn't stay long before I met 'Team California' for dinner. Debbie and Eileen are two very fascinating ladies whose company I really enjoy. We have a lot in common, especially in how we travel, and their stories are making my travel bug itchy! :o)
After dinner I got picked up
And went to see a performance of the famous Whirling Dervishes. I was tempted to bail but it seemed like a good insight into the culture and it was dance related which I like.
Unfortunately, as soon as the lights went down, my 4:40 wake up call caught up with me! I remember most of it but I also remember the deep desire for my bed! You couldn't take photos during the show but they came out again afterwards and I got a video and a few photos to remind me what I slept through!
Once I got back to my little cave palace I was so happy! It didn't take long for that comfy bed to lull me into a deep sleep prior to the next morning's 5:45 wake-up call! Wah!
We were shuttled to the hot-air balloon headquarters for breakfast while they filled the balloons. We couldn't help but notice the poster of Martha Stewart who flew with them last year. I think they were proud of their claim to fame!
I was less apprehensive on this balloon ride than the last one and before I knew it, we were up in the air joining the 70-odd other parts of the colour parade in the sky.
It really looked like Bedrock. I wouldn't have been surprised to see Fred Flintstone there! The area is known to be one of the premiere ballooning sites in the world and I can see why.
We celebrated the flight with mimosas at the landing site which was a nice touch.
Back at the hotel we had just over an hour to chill, eat, shower and, in my case, work on switching my hotel. If you use the word 'disappointed' to a tour operator, which I did in the email I sent the night prior, they usually take action. With a little doing and an extra $125US, they got me in to the same cave hotel that Eileen and Debbie were staying in. But I didn't check in until many hours later since we still had a full day ahead of us.
Everything kind of blended together but before lunch we hit the Kaymakli Underground city, a jewellery factory (read: gift store), and stopped to take pictures of fairy chimneys near the Red River.
Lunch was in a cool cave-like building with a great atmosphere but it wasn't a tasty as our road-side lunch the day prior.
After lunch we hit a ceramic factory where they showed us the spinning and painting of some gorgeous but sadly out-of-my-league pricing. It would have been nice to buy something at the source but anything I liked was hundreds of dollars!
The Goreme Open Air Museum was a pretty cool stop. It's not surprising that it (and the underground city) is a UNESCO world heritage site. It's the site of a series of Christian churches built into the caves. They were quite interesting but we were all getting tired and fighting with other tourists and the weather.
After a few more photo stops I finally got to see my beautiful and luxurious cave hotel room. I did good. Sometimes when I splurge it really isn't worth it. This was. It was a unique experience and SOOOO gezellig!
But I didn't stay long before I met 'Team California' for dinner. Debbie and Eileen are two very fascinating ladies whose company I really enjoy. We have a lot in common, especially in how we travel, and their stories are making my travel bug itchy! :o)
After dinner I got picked up
And went to see a performance of the famous Whirling Dervishes. I was tempted to bail but it seemed like a good insight into the culture and it was dance related which I like.
Unfortunately, as soon as the lights went down, my 4:40 wake up call caught up with me! I remember most of it but I also remember the deep desire for my bed! You couldn't take photos during the show but they came out again afterwards and I got a video and a few photos to remind me what I slept through!
Once I got back to my little cave palace I was so happy! It didn't take long for that comfy bed to lull me into a deep sleep prior to the next morning's 5:45 wake-up call! Wah!
No comments:
Post a Comment