Yes, that’s us hot air ballooning in Cappadocia!  The morning after we arrived in Turkey, we woke our boys up at 4:00 a.m. and said “let’s go on an adventure!”  Amazingly, we had kept the ballooning a secret until the very last minute when we arrived at the ballooning area.  They were sure we were going on an early morning hike (which is so not us!).  It’s amazing how quiet it is in the balloon, except when they add more fire!  Even though Jane doesn’t like heights, she felt completely fine being inside the basket and the kids did great…they even have little peepholes for kids to look out.  The pilots take their jobs very seriously, although it was a little freaky seeing some of the balloons go into the canyon so close together that they “kiss” as the pilot calls it!  After the hour-long ride, you share your rush with the other passengers over champagne which is a great time to meet other tourists from all over the world!  We had no idea how popular hot air ballooning in Cappadocia is but people come to this part of Turkey from all over to do it!

Go visit Turkey!  It’s relatively easy to get to (direct flights from JFK and Logan to Istanbul), pretty affordable, and the combination of warm, welcoming people, layers of history, and lots of natural beauty is hard to beat.  Sebbie, Jude, Jane and I took a field trip to Turkey this past May, checking out sights from Cappadocia in the center to Kas on the Med coast, Ephesus on the Aegean sea (with a detour to Rhodes, Greece) and Istanbul…and loved it all!  Logistically, we used a company that was recommended to us called Turista Travel who booked us with Urgup Balloons and also handled all the transportation logistics throughout the trip.  We also booked our tours through them, but found most of our hotels ourselves through Trip Advisor.

America–with huge oceans both sides and peaceful neighbors–has such different history from a place like Turkey, which has seen conquerors storm in from east and west for thousands of years.  Cappadocia has seen them all, lying on the Silk Road from China to Europe in the center of the country.

We flew from JFK to Istanbul then took another short flight to Kaseri (Caeserea in the Roman days).  Talk about history…where to begin…from the underground city where locals have hid from invaders throughout the ages to the churches of early Christianity carved out of the soft rock.  We started our adventure with a hot air balloon flight on day 2…when it’s still easy to rise at 4am!  Great experience…here are a few pics…more to come…