Ballooning over Cappadocia

Today we are in Goreme, and it was our big ballooning day, starting with a wake-up at 4:00 am.  It is very weather dependent, particularly the wind, and balloons are only allowed to take off each day when the Turkish Airforce officially declares the conditions safe.  Any wind over 8 km/h is enough to cancel the event.

Inflating the balloon

They start with the deflated balloon stretched out on the ground, and the basket on its side, and use large fans to initially get the balloon inflating.

Once it is sufficiently inflated they start giving it blasts from the gas burners to fill it with hot air, and the balloon gradually swells to full size and rises, pulling the basket upright.  The basket weights about one tonne, and the balloon is huge.  Fatih told us each balloon costs a few hundred thousand dollars.


The basket takes twenty passengers, divided into four corner pockets, with the pilot in his own pocket in the middle.  He works by pulling a trigger above is head when he wants to burn gas, and pulling on cords to open vents in the sides or top of the balloon.

Our pilot shortly after take off

Another basket like the one we were in

Other balloons coming up behind us

Up to 150 balloons take off every morning from Goreme, so its a huge business.  Goreme is Turkey's second-most popular tourist attraction (after Istanbul) and the balloons run all year round.  It is an amazing sight to see them all lifting off all over the landscape.

Balloons everywhere - up to 150 each morning!

Its a real wicker basket

Our pilot was very professional, with a sense of humour that helped everyone forget how scary it was.  In fact we felt amazingly comfortable considering where we were!  It is silent except when the burner is roaring overhead, and there is no sensation of acceleration, lift or descent.  The pilots talk to each other all the time on radios, or directly when they are close to each other.  Our flight turned out to be extra good because we flew for almost an hour and a half instead of the expect 45 minutes or so, and went up to 7,300 feet.  At that height it was freezing cold and I looked forward to the moments when the pilot turned on the burner, to warm at least the side of me nearest the flame.  We went up and down several times, down to just 2 metres above the hills below us, then back up again.  Our total distance travelled was about 7 kilometres.  Afterwards the pilot talked about our flight, telling us that the conditions were unusually good today and he had a very enjoyable flight.

The last part of the adventure is landing.  Because the basket is so heavy, they always try and land directly back onto their trailers.  This results in vehicles racing frantically about on the landscape below following their balloons and trying to get into position for the landing.  They drive anywhere, all over farms and crops, and quite a lot of frantic shouting goes on as the balloon comes down because it cannot actually stop except by dropping onto the ground.  We spent a few minutes moving across the ground just two or three metres up while three young men and one Landrover with trailer tried to get into position.  Just when it seemed we had made it the balloon drifted across a big ditch and then over an orchard, so the ground crew had to race off to find a way around each obstacle and catch up to us.

Another balloon landing on its trailer

The pilot threw ropes over the side, and the ground crew finally stopped us on the edge of another gully by dragging on those.

After landing we got champagne, and a certificate!