Another awesome day in Turkey!  But it definitely started too early.  First of all, the guy at the front desk forgot to give us a wake up call, as we had a pickup at 5:30 to go on a balloon ride.  Luckily, I had brought a watch, so we didn’t miss our pickup.  The moon was setting behind the Göreme castle- beautiful start to the day.

The Balloon ride itself was really fantastic.  The sights were amazing.  The pilot was exceptionally skilled- there was a flap of the balloon that acted as a sail, and he could navigate us just about anywhere in 3 dimensions.  I didn’t know that a balloon could be manipulated like that- amazing!

We then went on another tour of the region.  At least this guide had some real knowledge of the area.  We still had to go to their sponsored shops, but she at least let us hurry through them.

We went on a lovely hike through one of the valleys, really just whetting our appetite, but it was wonderful.  We also went to one of the underground cities.  It’s really amazing the complexity of the entire system.  There are living quarters, kitchens, wineries, ventilation shafts, storage areas, passageways, etc.  They even had huge Fred Flintstone wheels that could be rolled into place in front of passageways to keep invaders out.  I wonder if they ever used them, as it would be almost impossible to escape afterwards...

At the end of the day, we tried to convince our tour guide to take us back to Göreme instead of to the winery.  We failed, and it wasted a good hour or more.  That, combined with the fact that they told us our bus was 30 minutes later than it was, made us miss dinner entirely that day.  And this was another overnight bus, back to Istanbul for our flight home.

Overall, it was an absolutely amazing experience visiting Cappadocia, and I look forward to returning someday.  But you really don’t need a tour guide here,  And if you want one, avoid HARD ROCK TOURS.  They are nice, but are really not willing to do what you want.  They just want to do their tours and make their money.