Hot-air ballooning is a big business in Cappadocia. Centered in and around Göreme, the region’s top spot where most tourists stay, it is a well-oiled machine that provides a unique experience to tourists and rakes in a ton of money.
Now, we are not talking about a few balloons. Everyday, some 150 balloons (we were told) operated by different companies takeoff, most of them around 6:30 am in the morning. This is in order to see the sunrise from way up there. Given that there are probably 20 tourists in each balloon, this is a massive operation.
All these tourists need to be picked up at the given time from their hotels. Little vans run around the narrow streets to accomplish this horrendous task. The tourists are taken by these vans to the company headquarters where they are signed in fed breakfast. Surprisingly, there is no form releasing the company of liability to be signed. In US, that would be inconceivable given that there are chances that the balloon may take a nosedive.
The company we used had five balloons, we think. So on the day we took a ride, about one hundred tourists got breakfast before being divided in groups heading to their assigned balloons.
Once you reach the balloon, it is already partly inflated with air and lying on its side. Then they start the flamethrower (I don’t know the technical name) that creates hot air directed to the inside of the partially inflated balloon.
The balloon gets a dose of lighter than air material (hot air) and becomes upright, with a basket hanging at the bottom. Tourists climb up the basket and get inside. The balloon is now ready to depart.
The magic of balloon ride then begins and it truly is an amazing experience to silently float above ground. What you hear is incessant chatter of excited tourists speaking different languages (Korean and French in our case), punctuated by the sound of the flamethrower whenever the pilot wants the balloon to go up or stay up. Most of the tourists are busy taking each other’s pictures or selfies.
The ground around Göreme is spectacular, with weird geological formations all around.
The sight of tens of balloons with different colors and patterns rising all around you adds to the beauty of the scene. When the flame-thrower is on, the inside of the balloon lights up, making it glow.
The pilots have fun bringing the balloons down almost to the ground level and then pulling up. Sometimes you are flying above other balloons, sometimes below.
Amazingly, there are no collisions and mishaps are extremely rare.
Then sun rises, adding to the already surreal scene. Now the ground is bathed in the early morning light and the balloons shine from outside and inside.
Alas, the show does not last forever. It is time to put down the balloon. Magically, the flatbed truck that carries the basket and the deflated balloon appears at the designated spot and the balloon is gently put down. The landing is so accurate that the basket lands at the precise spot on the flatbed. The deflation of the balloon begins and soon it is rolled and put on the truck.
We all get down and are treated to a champagne breakfast, which is a hot-air ballooning tradition. Then, a van appears, the driver having addresses of each person riding it. Soon you are dropped off at the hotel.
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