Temperature: 8 | 24
Our alarm woke us all at 4:15am, and although we were all feeling very exhausted, we were so hopeful we’d get to see the balloons. We set off on our walk, making sure we were at the lookout by 5am. We saw a huge ‘Marry Me’ sign and a big set up when we approached the lookout and we were certain we were going to see a beautiful proposal, however in the end the girl didn’t seem very surprised (or happy!!) so we think it was likely a marketing campaign.

We were very sceptical at first when we couldn’t see any balloons in the distance or on the ground however by about 5:10 we heard the fans start and by 5:30 most were nearly ready to get in the air. We thought we’d get ourselves organised, get the drone ready and be able to take a video of them all slowing ascending into the air. Only to find the SD card of our drone was missing, meaning we couldn’t fly it to get footage. Of course our first thoughts were ‘where have we put it/misplaced it’ however we both clearly remember Connor collecting the drone in Marrakech airport and returning to me saying “at least the SD card is still there”. We stupidly didn’t check the drone again since, meaning its likely Fes customs have taken the SD card. Obviously we are upset we need to buy another expensive SD card however we are more devastated for the lost footage of Portugal. We hadn’t backed up the SD card before our arrival to Morocco as we were unaware it was about to be confiscated. It’s hard to believe that it was taken because of ‘policy’ as it would have been taken in Marrakech however it upsets us more to think that it’s been taken to sell given its value! We tried not to dwell on it too much as we took in the spectacular view however it was really disheartening knowing we wouldn’t be able to get quality footage of any of our time in Cappadocia.

We spent about an hour watching all the balloons ascending into the sky and then make their way over the valleys below. It was such a beautiful still morning, with minimal cloud so it was great to take it all in and get plenty of photos of them in action.

By about 6:30am we decided to continue with the hike where we knew it was likely we would continue to have a view of the balloons for a while. We headed down into Love Valley where there were fields of beautiful blooming flowers. We walked up and down, up and down, UP AND DOWN for over 2 hours before we finally somehow made it to the top and other side of that valley. We were only about 5kms in at this stage, knowing that we had at least another 6km to go however our bodies had started to feel the fatigue of last night. We eventually made it to Uchisar where we had originally planned to have a rest and coffee however after arriving we all decided we didn’t want the caffeine as we were looking forward to a nap. Instead we sat at a closed café, making the most of their seats and had a half our rest. We eventually convinced ourselves to complete the other half of the walk, knowing our incredibly comfortable beds would be waiting on the other end. We slowly headed down into Pigeon Valley which was filled of these huge stone mounds that were caved out, often made to looks like they had pigeon holes in them. This half of the walk was MUCH easier, with far less up and downs and mostly just walking through the valley and taking in the view of the mounds along with the sunshine. It really was a beautiful morning and such a nice way to start the day, however I cannot tell you how happy we all were to arrive back in Goreme, near to our accommodation. We made a quick stop at the supermarket, knowing we’d be hungry for lunch as soon as we woke. We grabbed some bread, cheese and chicken for homemade toasties, as well as some noodles to enjoy before bed. We headed back to the accommodation where we donned our pj’s, downed some noodles and headed straight for a 3 hour nap! I can assure, bed had never felt so good!

We woke to our alarm about 1pm and somehow managed to crawl out of bed and onto the couch. Connor eventually set off on making our homemade toasties, which turned out to be DELICIOUS, while Abbey and I inspected our morning photos.

By about 2pm we’d finished dinner and decided to head into town to see if we could get a cheap balloon tour for the morning, as well as a bus ticket for the evening overnight bus to Antalya. We were so torn about whether we wanted to do the balloons this morning or not as we really enjoyed the lookout this morning and almost felt like that was enough. We umm’d and ahh’d for a long time over it, but ultimately I decided I’ll probably never hot air balloon anywhere else, nor ever come back to Cappadocia so I was going to pay the money and do it. As soon as I said that the other two were on board.

Most of the balloon tours we’d seen online ranged between $300-$500 however we were hoping to pay between $250-$300. Luck was in our favour as one of the first places we enquired offered us $245 each if we paid cash!! Of course, we made sure that price was the going rate and when no other place could match it, we grabbed cash out and locked in the deal!! We continued with our booking and headed to the bus company. We managed to book the 2145 bus from Cappadocia that would arrive to Antalya at 0700, although we were all dreading the sleeping on the bus situation.

We continued wandering the streets of Cappadocia, although very surprised at how small it was. It ended up being quite lucky that we did the huge hike as we’re not really sure how we would have filled in our time otherwise, without having to book more tours. Abbey ended up buying a couple of beautiful cushion covers which had been beautifully made out of camel bags, and although I found so many I loved, I somehow resisted knowing how much the rug was to send home!!

We eventually headed back to the apartment to play some card games before heading back out for dinner at around 6:30. Obviously we’d had the early morning this morning, and considering we were ballooning tomorrow morning, it would be an even earlier morning so we were aiming to have an early dinner and bedtime.

I enjoyed a ‘Chicken Tikka Calzone’, Connor opted for a burger and Abbey went for the classic lasagne – all were delicious. We headed home for showers and bed, in preparation of tomorrows big morning.