April 5th: Early birds to watch the balloons

It is difficult to get tired of watching hot air balloons flying above the valleys surrounding Goreme. After a good night's sleep uninterrupted by the muezzin (after being awoken at 5 a.m. for three nights in a row, it really made a difference), we woke up a bit before 7 a.m. (as I bounced out of bed rather more eagerly than John) to watch the balloons from the terrace of our new hotel. It was obviously not quite as fun as flying in one, but it was nevertheless captivating. They were all moving slowly in the same direction. We were quickly joined by a few other guests who had decided not to fly, as they had had a bad experience in England from a rather bumpy landing.

Sunrise on Uchisar

Close-up of the citadel

Balloons over Goreme

A few balloons getting rather close to each other

We stayed on the terrace after breakfast to enjoy the view and the early sun. I wish we could have stayed longer in Goreme, and in this hotel in particular.

The bus to Ankara was rather comfortable and the journey pretty smooth. We were very pleased to learn on our arrival at the huge bus station that a free shuttle bus would take us to the city centre.

Helped by friendly locals we managed to get off the bus at the right stop, a few hundred metres away from our hotel, to which John managed to take us without detour. We had read bad reviews about a few hotels in the area, but our hotel was pleasant and very well-located (near the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations and the Old Citadel).

Shortly after dropping our bags, we walked up to the old city and the citadel, passing through lively commercial streets. The houses inside the old city seemed to have gone through the ages, and were charmingly decayed. The top of the citadel overlooked the whole city, and in particular the massive square mausoleum of Ataturk.