Post by wrightc41 on Nov 1, 2019 19:18:24 GMT
Hi all
You wait all year for a report from Cappadocia and then get two a few weeks apart!
Anyhow I followed in the footsteps of Keith and just returned from an excellent visit to Cappadocia. I arrived late on Sunday 27 October having flown from Heathrow to Kayseri via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines where I picked up the hire car before an hour's drive to Goreme where I stayed in the Caravanserai Inn Hotel for four nights. This is a fairly new hotel situated just to the north of this small town/village with a population of around 3000 offering a decent buffet breakfast on the top floor with an open terrace which is open all hours. I would definitely recommend at around £60 per night though there are plenty of other hotels in the vicinity.
As the balloons only fly in the mornings I gave myself the chance of four slots (Monday to Thursday) and fortunately all were flyable though I understand the day before I arrived there was no flying because I rain and the day after I left it was too windy but on average they fly around 250-270 days per year.
Thanks to Keith for his invaluable tips beforehand about where to go I had an idea what to expect but in practice I needed to be quite flexible and therefore a car is a must. For those not familiar the landscape is stunning and is famous for its valleys, fairy chimneys and rock formations. There are so many launch sites which are dictated by the winds and these changed everyday. Quite a few are right opposite the hotel and are so close you can hear the whir of fans cold inflating the balloons from the hotel room!
They tend to start launching just before sunrise which at this time of year was around 0700 though some take off later so I headed for a hill in the centre of town on day one where I was in position by 0645 to witness the first balloons launching though because it want fully light I couldn't rad them off first thing. Although temperatures reached around 20 degrees most days it was only around 4 or 5 degrees first thing so you need to wrap up warm. Day one saw 132 launch with similar numbers on the following three days. From the hill you could also see balloons inflating to the east and west and because of the light and variable balloons these eventually drifted overhead. On some days they launched further north, east and west and so I moved locations on a daily basis including on day three to Love Valley for some stunning views and the incredible sight of balloons flying along the valley floor. Because the winds were fairly light the balloons didn't travel far so I tended to move to different locations to get some different photos.
As Keith has already said the pax balloons are huge with most between 250,000 and 600,000 cubic feet in size carrying between 12 and 28 pax each. There are 25 operators in total and in the four days I was there I logged 175 different balloons. I read they carry around 2000 pax per day!
By 8am most were down and then around 9am the small balloons flew for around an hour or two again from different locations based on the wind. I logged around 20 (from the 175 above) and a small number of these carry pax but most are for training new pilots and helping them build hours before they can fly the large pax balloons.
I have been to a lot of balloon meets around the world but have to say seeing these flying every morning was an incredible sight and one I would thoroughly recommend if you are into HABs. The whole area is stunning and is a great place for a holiday with lots of things to do and places to visit. I got a meal and drink most days for between £5 and £10 at the many restaurants in town.
I will post my logs over the next few days with some pics too to give you an idea of what was seen and what you can expect of you are interested in going.
Thanks and feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions.
Colin
You wait all year for a report from Cappadocia and then get two a few weeks apart!
Anyhow I followed in the footsteps of Keith and just returned from an excellent visit to Cappadocia. I arrived late on Sunday 27 October having flown from Heathrow to Kayseri via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines where I picked up the hire car before an hour's drive to Goreme where I stayed in the Caravanserai Inn Hotel for four nights. This is a fairly new hotel situated just to the north of this small town/village with a population of around 3000 offering a decent buffet breakfast on the top floor with an open terrace which is open all hours. I would definitely recommend at around £60 per night though there are plenty of other hotels in the vicinity.
As the balloons only fly in the mornings I gave myself the chance of four slots (Monday to Thursday) and fortunately all were flyable though I understand the day before I arrived there was no flying because I rain and the day after I left it was too windy but on average they fly around 250-270 days per year.
Thanks to Keith for his invaluable tips beforehand about where to go I had an idea what to expect but in practice I needed to be quite flexible and therefore a car is a must. For those not familiar the landscape is stunning and is famous for its valleys, fairy chimneys and rock formations. There are so many launch sites which are dictated by the winds and these changed everyday. Quite a few are right opposite the hotel and are so close you can hear the whir of fans cold inflating the balloons from the hotel room!
They tend to start launching just before sunrise which at this time of year was around 0700 though some take off later so I headed for a hill in the centre of town on day one where I was in position by 0645 to witness the first balloons launching though because it want fully light I couldn't rad them off first thing. Although temperatures reached around 20 degrees most days it was only around 4 or 5 degrees first thing so you need to wrap up warm. Day one saw 132 launch with similar numbers on the following three days. From the hill you could also see balloons inflating to the east and west and because of the light and variable balloons these eventually drifted overhead. On some days they launched further north, east and west and so I moved locations on a daily basis including on day three to Love Valley for some stunning views and the incredible sight of balloons flying along the valley floor. Because the winds were fairly light the balloons didn't travel far so I tended to move to different locations to get some different photos.
As Keith has already said the pax balloons are huge with most between 250,000 and 600,000 cubic feet in size carrying between 12 and 28 pax each. There are 25 operators in total and in the four days I was there I logged 175 different balloons. I read they carry around 2000 pax per day!
By 8am most were down and then around 9am the small balloons flew for around an hour or two again from different locations based on the wind. I logged around 20 (from the 175 above) and a small number of these carry pax but most are for training new pilots and helping them build hours before they can fly the large pax balloons.
I have been to a lot of balloon meets around the world but have to say seeing these flying every morning was an incredible sight and one I would thoroughly recommend if you are into HABs. The whole area is stunning and is a great place for a holiday with lots of things to do and places to visit. I got a meal and drink most days for between £5 and £10 at the many restaurants in town.
I will post my logs over the next few days with some pics too to give you an idea of what was seen and what you can expect of you are interested in going.
Thanks and feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions.
Colin