Day 6 Balloons 8-18-2011

The day started at 3:30 am by 4:30 we were in an van traveling to our balloon company. first they feed us and then we were up with our group. I was getting so excited by the time we got from the restaurant to the balloon. Which was about 15 min. We watched as they in flatted the balloon. From when it was lying flat on the ground to when it was in there air. The size of the ballon was just amazing.

We all hopped in the balloon, which was a little difficult because the basket was very tall. I'm six feet and the top of the basket came up to my chest. This was good because it make you feel really secure and once we took off there was no fear of falling or of the heights.

Our captain told us that there no way to control the direction the balloon goes but he can spin it. so we spun around the entire time which allowed us to see all angles every where we went.

This trip was so thrilling. we really had an expert captain. He would take us with-in two feet of the ground and we would float above it as we traveled up the hill. all with out hitting the ground.

When our journey came to an end we had a very gentle landing, it was very soft. Then we had champaign ('I had orange Juice') then they pulled out a cake and we surprised my sister.

After our celebrations we went back to the hotel. we were late and the group was suppose to leave at 8:30 but we got there at nine and they had already left. This was no problem because we had to change our gear before we went back out and took a van to the group where they were waiting for us. (this was a little embarrassing) then we went to the fairy towers. which are rock formation that were created by the water swirling around these harder rock sediments grinding it away. leaving very tall, and cone tipped towers.

Later we went to the cave churches and there we amazing views, however no photos were allowed in the church, so I took photos out side.

we had lunch and there we met a cat and I had a thin flower (almost like a crape) that was filled with something that tasted like blue cheese as well as spinach and potato. It was one of the best things I ate so far.

After lunch we went to the underground city. This underground city was built in order for the christians to hide from their enemy. They would hid the entire population for up to months at a time (1-4 months) and they would wait there. they also discovered that the city is at the correct temperature for wine. They would squish the grapes above ground and then they would the juice down a hole the built in the ground and they would collect it under ground and put in storage to ferment.

They also had back up plans if their enemies found there caves. they had some tunnels that led to no where. and they had gain stone walls that would block the door so they enemies could not fallow them (and hopefully take the lost path.)

After this we were very tried and we went to the rug center. there is where they weave the rugs. They let us take photos of the women as they wove their rugs. They explained how turkish rugs use double knots that would create an unravelable construction. Then they took is into a big room and started to roll out all the rug for us to pick. they had rugs going from 100 dollars all they way up to 20,000.

we then came home and I took many sun set and night shots.