Cappadocia, with its fairy chimneys and pigeon valleys, is one of the top hot air balloon spots in the world. We have sent Martino Matijevic to find out why.
We rose before the sun and though a little bleary-eyed we enjoyed sipping a comforting coffee on the roof terrace at Royal Stone Houses Hotel.
It wasn’t long before we witnessed the sun appear from behind the hill in front. Then in a moment of pure magic there it was – the view of over 100 balloons gradually appearing over the horizon. We did this on the morning following our balloon flight and was almost as wonderful as being inside the balloon.
According to Suat, Royal Balloon’s Chief Pilot with over 2000 hours of flight and 15 years experience, his top three hot air balloon places in the world are Kenya (for the wildlife), Loire Valley in France (for magnificent castles) and Cappadocia in Turkey (for the stunning scenery). We had the amazing opportunity to join him on an early morning flight over Cappadocia. If you have flown a hot air balloon in Kenya or Loire Valley (or elsewhere), we would love to hear about you experience too.
Finding a hot air balloon company in Cappadocia is easy, considering there are 50 of them with over 120 balloons. But that is also the difficult part: how do you choose the right one? After all, this is a lifetime experience and you want it to be perfect and there are also security issues attached.
Copyright © 2014 by The Travel Magazine. This article was written by Martino Matijevic and originally published at The Travel Magazine
