However, prompted by 'if not now, when?', I opted in. I am SO glad that I did.
Up in the dark, trundling along dirt roads to the lift-off site, we saw the ghostly outlines of waiting balloons in the fields and spaces to the sides. Among the natural tufa and volcanic rock shapes their very roundness was strange.
Actually when it came to it I wasn't at all apprehensive, oddly...the atmosphere was strangely other-worldly, with the remarkable landscape of basalt and tufa eroded over millenia. Our basket was fairly small, so we had ten including the pilot and his 2 helpers. The rushing of the lit gas pushing hot air into the balloon is tremendously loud, and of course there are up to 100 of them all going up at dawn or thereabouts, so there's a real sense of excitement. Going up slowly there is no feeling of danger or alarm: it's so quiet without any engines. In the deep blue before sunrise the colour slowly seeps into the landscape and we floated up to 600 feet at the highest, if I remember correctly. All the pilots communicate with walkie talkie devices to ensure that everyone has a turn at different heights, and locations. We went over a village built after 1954 when there was a bad earthquake here, and cave dwellers were forced to leave. It was only in the 1970's that any tourists began to trickle in. Now there are more Koreans and Chinese than europeans, and there are restaurants serving Asian food to serve them. They are masters of the selfie.
Drifting over the village we passed over two minarets marking the mosques, and saw daily life from a bird's eye view. It was enchanting to see the miniature life below...and also the openings where doorways and windows to the ancient rock and cave dwellings were in the earth and rock.
A number have been taken over and made into hotels and the evidence of poor and hasty development from the early days is very obvious.
We were a bit over an hour in the air, and it was a really glorious, dreamlike experience. I hope to get some photos ready shortly but we are very busy getting up early to make use of the best light of the day.
After returning for breakfast we went out again to see a small, privately arranged demonstration of sufi dance. This was a far cry from the usual tourist performances and it was set up so that we could take photographs. As it was inside an old underground cave usually in service as the night club 'Yemeni', it was quite challenging. Dark and lit only by artificial lights, and of course, plenty of movement. No selfies, no flash. It was particularly interesting via our guide Nahida to hear the stories of the young men and how they came to get involved in this heritage activity.
Lunch was at Kevi by the river, with a pleasant breeze and again, only local diners. I had a dish in a cast iron pot, of mushrooms baked with a little cheese, and salad.
And so the food: especially good are the vegetables, raw and cooked, tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines etc, and yoghorts with herbs eg Parslane, and several cheeses, some goats, some from sheep, and cow too. Plenty of fresh and delicious bread!
Afternoon was a bit of down time, and I finished my book by the pool which was absolutely freezing! The garden at the Karlik Evi is like that in a slightly arty, bohemian family. Odd art works lie randomly about, there is a vegetable garden, the pool, various seating areas and a couple of horses, all against the backdrop of a castle hewn from rock. Very charming.
Another excursion to catch late afternoon and dusk light, followed by supper and here I am, all tucked up. Bedtime!
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