So far using the Park4Night app, we have (mostly out of chance) landed at park ups at abandoned thermal spas, at the top of mountains and at beautiful beach fronts; but for this park up, we had done our research. Originally, we had planned to drive across the Northern coast of Turkey, along the black sea. That was until we realised that a place on my bucket list was well within detour perimeter.
Cappadocia, Central Turkey - A landscape I struggle to describe using words. It was honestly as though we had driven away from Ankara, and onto the moon (or at least what I imagine the moon would be like). It is the interaction between natural rock erosion and human life. Many of the rocks you see in the picture above were lived in by humans as far back as the 10th Century. For the first couple of nights, we parked at the top of 'love valley' (with a stray dog Alice temporarily adopted and named Matilda). Our wake up view was incredible, and we were barely interrupted except for the quid bike tours driving past and stopping to pose for pictures with the beautiful backdrop.
Now, if you've been following us on Instagram (@in_transit2017), or keeping up with my blogposts then you'll know that we do something called 'sunday funday' which essentially involves the luxury of a hotel or air bnb for the purpose of personal hygiene and accessible wifi; and as the name suggests always happens on a Sunday. Only, this week, Sunday Funday turned into a week long event.
We stayed in Göreme, the main town in the region of Cappadocia, in a cave hotel (yes our room was an actual cave) that cost us £8 each a night with breakfast included. I mean, I love Stevie our van but that was an offer we weren't going to pass up. We explored the colour coded hiking routes that take you through the various valleys. There is an open air museum where there are churches constructed inside of rocks and even an underground city; but thats not what it is most famous for...
Cappadocia is most famous for its hot air balloons. Unfortunately, on the mornings we spent in the van, the balloons did not fly, and so we never woke up in the van to them surrounding us. We saw them initially on the first morning we stayed in the hotel, after been woken by the beautiful alarm clock of the call the prayer. After a few days, we had climbed to the top of the mountain to the panoramic view and what we saw was incredible. The sun was rising and the sky was filled with hundreds of different coloured hot air balloons.
By the end of the week, after two days of bad weather and cancellations, we were waiting outside of the hotel at 5:30 am to be picked up for our hot air balloon ride. I was feeling quite apprehensive, since I've always been quite scared of heights. Once we got up in the air, I felt strangely comfortable, and the ride was a lot smoother than I imagined it to be. The balloon ride lasted an hour, during which time we coasted along side the hundreds of other balloons in the sky. It was an amazing an experience; and since 'hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia' was what I had written on my bucket list, I think I can certainly tick that one off...