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We left our hotel at 4:45 am. After a nice breakfast at the Butterfly Balloons
headquarters we were off to the launch site. Upon arrival at the launch site,
twenty (20) brave soles got into the balloon basket and shortly thereafter we
thought we heard...
This is Houston
Control...we have liftoff at 6:04 am. And away we all
went...Up, Up, and Away (5th Dimension, 1967) in our beautiful
balloon!!
The morning air
was cool and calm as Captain Kaan Demircan began maneuvering
Golf Yankee (our balloon call sign) along side "fairy chimneys"
and through the valleys and terrain of Cappadocia. We all were
busy taking pictures of this mystical place in Turkey.
The balloon
flight was spectacular as our balloon rose higher and higher.
Soon we all watched in awe the sun rise over the mountain in the
distance.
It was a sight
we will all remember as we climbed and descended among the other
100 balloons that filled the beautiful blue sky on this calm
morning. Our pilot Kaan kept us all entertained with his humor
( e.g. "This is only my 2nd flight") and knowledge of the
landscape gliding by below us. The hour balloon flight came to
an end way to soon. After a perfect landing on the flatbed from
which we launched, we had a champagne toast for Kaan, the crew,
and ourselves. Experiencing Cappadocia from a balloon is just
one of the many highlights on this tour.
After returning
to otel Lale Saray for yet another breakfast, our tour group got
into our bus and headed to Zelve ( an UNESCO World Heritage
Site) where we would hike to an uninhabited settlement of rock
dwellers to view the settlement's houses, church, monastery, and
mosque.
While on the bus
Meli explained the rock formations and the various color strata
of the rock that we were seeing. She said that the Mother
mountain of Cappadocia had two (2) volcanos erupt which
resulted in lava flows that piled up to create the different
color strata of minerals. Meli discussed the rock formations in
terms of the "Creator" or "Created". The elements (I.e. wind,
rain, snow, etc.) are still working today as they have over
thousands of years ago when the rocks started to be carved. The
rock dwellings were carved out of the "tuff" rock which was a
softer rock. Because of the softer "tuff" (that could be
carved) into the rock, a more constant temperature could be
maintained throughout the seasons.
Meli mentioned
several other things on our way to Zelve: (1) Cappadocia means
"The Land of Beautiful Horses"; (2) St. Paul walked in this area
a lot. He was born in Tarsus located in southern Turkey by the
Mediterranean; (3) Paul came to Cappadocia under the challenge
of his teachings; (4) Paul came under Roman persecution as well
as other Christian people living in Cappadocia ; (5) The
Christian people also went underground to escape persecution;
(6) Cappadocia was along the Silk Road trade route and had to be
defended; (7) The "tuff" could be scrapped into finer material
and be used as fertilizer because of its mineral content.
On the way to
Zelve we stopped at Pasabagh to get a closer view of the
"fairy chimneys" and walk among them.
The tops
(crowns) were black due to the volcanic very hard basalt rock.
The rock below the basalt was of the softer "tuff" rock which
could be carved and scrapped.
Upon arrival at
the Zelve Open Air Museum we had to hike among the rock
dwellings to view and appreciate this museum.
This settlement
was established 2000 years ago. It was built in Tree Valley and
had approximately 1500 people living here. In 1954 they began
to evacuate the settlement due to the instability of the rock.
We visited a church where Meli explained the origin of the
Maltese Cross (a symbol of Christianity). Using Greek letters
Meli drew how the Maltese Cross represents Jesus (Lesous) Christ
(Christos) is God (Theos), Son (Huios), and Savior (Sophia). In
the church were frescos of the Twelve Stations of the Cross with
"The Tree of Life" between each station. The red color of the
frescos came from the red clay color of the Red River. We then
hiked to other rock dwellings including a monastery and mosque
before returning to our bus.
We then drove
to have lunch at a restaurant that served us Potkabob. The
Potkabob was meat cooked in a clay pot (covered with dough to
trap the heat inside) for 5 hours. The top of the clay pot was
then broken off with a knife and the Potkabob dumped out and
placed on a plate.
The delicious
Potkabob meal was interrupted by a rain shower which drove us
from the covered patio area to indoors.
After lunch we
went to a small village museum that depicted what an Anatolian
home and
village life
might be like through individual booth displays. The displays
consisted of Home
Construction,
Architecture, Kitchen, How to Make Pekmez, Weaving Room, Old
Street, Living
Room, The
Engagement, Henna (Honeymoon Night), and Bride's Room. The
museum was well done and we went away with a better
understanding of Anatolian culture. In the evening we went to
the smallest Caravanserai to watch a Sufi swirling dervish
performance.
This concluded a long but very informative day.
Rich
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