Below is a slide show of select pictures from the hot air balloon ride that Amy and I took on our recent 1 year wedding anniversary. Cappadocia has very unique flight conditions for hot air ballooning. With the still air in the mornings (you take off at 7am) and the amazing canyons the extremely skilled pilots can take the balloons into some amazing spots. In fact we brushed so close to a tree in our balloon that I was able to pick leaves off of the tree, really amazing the control the pilots have. And while it is a bit of budget buster at €130 ($194) each for a 1 hour ride, it was a once in a lifetime experience.
One of the interesting tidbits I learned about ballooning from the trip is that the champagne toast at the end dates back to 1783. Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Marquis Francios-Laurent d’Arlandes took off from Paris ultimately landing in a farmers field, upsetting him and his animals quite a bit. To appease him the pilots offer him some champagne they had aboard and it has been a tradition ever since.
If you ever get the chance to ride in a balloon I would highly recommend it. We used Anatolian Balloons, who is by their own claim, the largest balloon company in the world and we were quite impressed, check out Amy’s Trip Advisor review here.
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