Travelpalooza 2.7

16st May 2006 : Ürgüp – Antalya
Leaving the Hotel early in the morning and drive to Antalya attending Rotary Conference at the hotel Miracle in Lara, Antalya .

Okay, so this is going to be photo heavy. Because WE WENT ON A HOT AIR BALLOON. AND IT WAS AMAZING. I filled my memory card over the course of, like, three hours. THAT'S FIVE HUNDRED PICTURES, YO. And I whittled them down to something relatively manageable for posting, so scroll appreciatively and bear in mind that I could easily have thrown a lot more at you.

So there.

ANYWAY, Maeghan, Blase and I started the day by waking up far too early and paying a mildly exorbidant sum to drift across the landscape in a hot air balloon. Seriously, the conversation about it with my parents went something like:

Me: But it's expensive!
Mom: But it's a hot air balloon!
Me: But it's expensive!
Dad: But it's a hot air balloon!

&c.

The balloons left at dawn, which somewhat inconveniently meant getting up substantially before then. Also, no breakfast. Which I was not down with - I like breakfast - but: Dude. Hot air balloon.

Ballooning is a major industry in Cappadocia. The long-suffering guide told us that a decade or so, back when she starting guiding, there were only one or two balloon agencies in Cappadocia. But that morning, we probably saw over a hundred balloons lifting off around dawn. It would have been astoundingly cool had I been properly awake. Coffee would have helped, too.

When we arrived, a herd of balloons was peeking gently over the horizon. Kinda.



Blase + scenic vista! I am unsure of why Blase is red.


It turns out that horses look pretty funky from the air.


We had an Ataturk flag, naturally.


Maeghan, exuberant!


A rock. Which we flew over. Or skimmed, rather. Anyway, it was a pointy rock, and we narrowly missed it.


Mmmmm landscape:










A balloon, landing and deflating. Kinda cool, eh?




Not long after, we too descended:





Myself and the long-suffering guide:


FOOD. FINALLY. Champagne and pretzels. Breakfast of champions.


Maeghan and Blase are too dang photogenic. Don't know how that happened.


And now a substantially less excellent picture. I suspect it's because I'm in it.


They gave us certificates, as Maeghan demonstrates:


Incidentally, it was Jime's birthday, so Blase picked her some flowers.



On our way to the resort (!) in Antalya (!) on the Mediterranean (!) where we would reside for three days (!)...anyway, we bid Can the Chaperone adieu. And, after much driving, arrived late afternoon at the Hotel Miracle in Antalya. And "miracle" is right. Seriously. This was the view from our window.


Juliana and Maeghan crashed almost immediately. While I...photographed them crashing.


Also, being a proper resort, there was a disco on the premises, which we naturally had to check out. Juliana is fantastic, if you hadn't picked that up already.



I am...somewhat less so. (Apparently it would have killed me to smile...?)


It was a great night.