We arrived in Cappodochia at about 11 p.m.. After some mix up at our pickup point (waiting for a number of other shuttle passengers who also had flight 
delays) we arrived at the Kelebek Cave Hotel. OMG, what I mean is… OMG!! We almost went into shock having come from the good ole’ tuna scow the SS Scupper. Somehow our driver managed to get his 
enormous “bus like” van through the narrow streets and up the winding road to our “other worldly” hotel. We felt like we were in the middle of a Tolkien novel. Massive rock cones everywhere you turned complete with doors and windows. The next day we walked to the 
open air museum in Goreme (one of three towns which make up Capadoccia). On the way we came across a horse pen… couldn’t resist a short detour. When we arrived at the site museum we entered a dozen or so churches 
cut deep into the rock. I don’t think I’ve used this many superlatives in my life; they are all well deserved when describing this wonderful place.
The hot air balloon ride that almost didn’t happen.
We woke up at 4am as we were being picked up by our hot air balloon company Anatolian Balloons. Well the van did arrive hotel, but not to pick us up. They were there to pick up people from a neighbouring hotel.
We weren’t on the list and so he refused to take us (we had booked and paid for this excursion online and had received confirmation). Mark was fit to be tied… in fact he filmed the 
driver refusing to pick us up and driving off. Disappointed, we went to the lounge for a coffee and ran into Haj. He seems to be ever
present. Fortunately for us, he was aware of two guests who had cancelled their balloon flights with Butterfly Balloons ( a different company ) and that driver was just that moment picking up some other people from our hotel. The night receptionist called Anatolian Balloons, who suggested we go to their office at 9am to discuss our refund. Well we got the vacant spots on this balloon ride without paying for it in 
advance ( clearly our names were not on their list either!) We were so glad that the other company had screwed up because we had a great experience with Butterfly Balloons. The crew and staff were incredibly personable and had their shtick down pat- we were well entertained. The pilot Kaan was very funny. We saw the sunrise dangling from a hot air balloon. At 500 metres it was incredibly romantic- well as romantic as it can be when you’re with 14 other people! We were in the air for 90 minutes changing altitude often 
eventually coasting through a rustic valley. The experience was topped off with a glass of champagne! (the cost with Butterfly Balloons was much less than what we had paid with the other company- Bonus!) We managed to get to Anatolian Balloon office and eventually after a flourish of inter-office discussion we got a full refund. Jumping back into our waiting taxi we made it back to the Kelebek Hotel just in time for our next tour! The staff were so helpful and paid attention to every detail. Everyone jumped to assist us. What could have been a disastorous day turned into a divine one. Bravo Butterfly Balloons and The Kelebek Hotel!
markncoco 