{"id":6566,"date":"2017-05-31T00:25:57","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T00:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinkerten.com\/wordpress\/?p=6566"},"modified":"2017-05-31T00:25:57","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T00:25:57","slug":"turkey-6-cappadocia-alien-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinkerten.com\/wordpress\/2017\/05\/turkey-6-cappadocia-alien-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey 6 : Cappadocia – The Alien Town"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cappadocia City<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cappadocia is the highlight of Turkey I would say. \u00a0We woke up at 5 am in the morning and booked for a hot air balloon ride at 7 am. \u00a0I had no clue what it would look like at the top. \u00a0It was my first experience on the hot air balloon, both excited and quite worried as well.<\/p>\n

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My First Hot Air Balloon Experience<\/strong><\/p>\n

Getting in the basket was already quite scary, we have to listen carefully to the instruction before launching and landing. \u00a0Where to hold and squatting down low inside the basket. \u00a0There \u00a0are two hot air balloon crews flying together with us through the 1 hour ride. \u00a0They are in charge of adding heat with the burner.<\/p>\n

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There are in total about 20 passengers\u00a0squeezing inside the basket and fly up together. \u00a0To make the hot air balloon fly up was not an easy task, there are additional 5-8\u00a0crews helping on the ground for launching and landing of the hot air balloon, to make sure the basket landing at the proper location and smoothly.<\/p>\n

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Once we are up on the sky, we are allowed to slowly stand up and look at the scenery from the top. \u00a0It was winter so the whole place was covered with snow which make it so beautiful. \u00a0However, it was very cold and windy -15 C on top of the sky. \u00a0I recon the view would be nicer in winter as you could see a mixture of brown and white on the landscape. \u00a0Landing was the most frightening part.<\/p>\n

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Cappadocia is one of the best hot air ballooning destinations in the world. \u00a0You can see the most unique landscape in the world. \u00a0For once you would think is this really earth? \u00a0It looks very much like housing for the Alien.<\/p>\n

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The price to do hot air balloon is no cheap but is worth to do it in Cappadocia and I am sure you won’t regret it. \u00a0Oh yea, there is a tradition of giving a champagne to celebrate after landing and a certificate with your name on it for memory. \u00a0It was a magical experience and one of the best highlight in Turkey.<\/p>\n

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Valley of Fairy Chimneys<\/strong><\/p>\n

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One would wonder why the stone here look so much like mushrooms? And the given nickname of these formation is “fairy Chimney”.\u00a0The chimneys are a result of a geologic process that began millions of years ago, when volcanic eruptions rained ash across what would eventually become Turkey.<\/p>\n

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Pigeon Valley<\/strong><\/p>\n

The whole place is full of unusual stone caves which seems like it comes from another planet, really picturesque maze of exceptional rock formation. \u00a0It is also said that farmers used to collect the pigeon dropping from the cave and used as fertilizer.<\/p>\n

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Evil Eyes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Evil eyes hanging on the trees – Evil eyes are said to protect from the bad and bring in good luck in Turkey. \u00a0Good to bring home for souvenirs.<\/p>\n

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Goreme Onyx\u00a0<\/strong>Jewelry<\/b><\/p>\n

Stopped by this jewelry shop but didn’t get anything as the price are just too expensive. \u00a0Outside the shop, there is this mini mushroom fairly chimney landscape which is quite cute.<\/p>\n

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Uchisar \u201cCastle\u201d Village<\/strong>
\nUchisar is situated at the highest point in Cappadocia, on the Nevsehir-Goreme road, just 5 km from Goreme. \u00a0I did not go up the castle but only looking from afar. \u00a0If you are interested in hiking, you can organize a hiking tour to walk up this maze looking castle. \u00a0It should be very interesting and the view should be great from the top of the castle.<\/p>\n

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Goreme Open-Air Museum<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This is truly an impressive Open Air Museum in Cappadocia.<\/p>\n

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Goreme Open Air museum contains some of the earliest churches in history, this place was one of the first to embrace Christianity. \u00a0There are many churches and Some of the churches inside the cave dated 3rd & 4th century BC.<\/p>\n

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There are some stairs for you to climb up to visit the churches. \u00a0If the place is crowded, you may have to wait patiently for your turn to climb up.<\/p>\n

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Finally my turn to climb up to check out the churches.<\/p>\n

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Will I come back?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I simply love this place and don’t mind of coming back again to explore, may be spend few more days on hiking trails and explore slowly.<\/p>\n

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Winter is beautiful in Cappadocia but very cold, -5 to 5 C! \u00a0Which is the best season to see Cappadocia, I still think is in winter.<\/p>\n

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Turkey 6 : \u00a0Cappadocia – The Alien Town<\/strong><\/p>\n