Cappadocia - 1

Cappadocia is an area not a city.
The landscape of Cappadocia came into being as a result of volcano eruption thousands of years ago. What we saw was an area full of rocks in dramatic shape. This area was an underground city where Christians used as a perfect hideout from the Romans.
They lived in their cave houses (right), all connected from the inside. However, most of these cave houses and churches are now empty, whereas in some places it has been turned into hotels and restaurants.
For more detailed information you can read here.

Cappadocia area is very wide. And the best way to view the area is from above. Yes! You have to fly...like a bird, so you can have the bird's eye view. That's exactly what we did.
It was an optional tour, and only four of us took the challenge. Me and my husband and two other friends.
It's hot air balloon ride!
It was a dream come true for me..
Alhamdulillah..Subhaanallah..
We were taken to the station as early as 5.00 am ( subuh time is 3.50am, by the way). The ride is only done early in the morning when the wind flow is safe for hot air balloon.

The basket has four sections for the passengers (5 per section), and one section in the middle for the pilot.

You don't really feel the movement of the
balloon unless you looked straight down below the balloon. It went up and down depending on the landscape. Sometimes we were taken in between the rocks so that we can have a better view of the cave houses. The highest that we went were 700m above the land.

It was an unforgettable experience. Subhaanallah..
The spectacular and breathtaking view made us speechless. Most of us were quiet, too absorbed with the surrounding.



The ride lasted about one hour. As the balloon started to descend, the ground crew got ready to pull the basket to the landing platform behind a vehicle to be driven back to the station. We were asked to stand in a landing position by holding to the basket while bending our knees. The landing was really smooth.
After getting out from the basket, we were offered with grape juice to celebrate and presented with a certificate by the pilot.

Alhamdulillah..