Up, Up, And Away …

In Turkey

A Magical Balloon Ride Highlights Residents’ Visit

Editor’s note: With all of the winter weather we’ve been having lately, we thought we’d take you to a land far, far away – at least through words and photos. Rockbridge County resident Lynn Lowry Leech, who has written travel stories for us before, has written the following story about one of the trips she and her husband took in recent years. Enjoy.

In September 2022, my husband Rick and I made a longanticipated two-week trip to Turkey. Covid restrictions had finally eased and political unrest in the country seemed to have calmed. Our actionpacked tour took us to many unique and fascinating places, and we found the people of Turkey to be welcoming and hospitable.

In Istanbul, the ancient Bazaar and Spice Market offered a stunning array of pungent spices, fresh fruits and vegetables - many of which were unfamiliar to our Western eyes - as well as a wide array of other goods.

Although we are not Muslim, we were allowed to step into several beautifully decorated mosques and even observe the faithful at their prayers. At one mosque in a smaller town, we had the unique opportunity to meet with an imam, who answered our many curious and pointed questions with grace and thoughtfulness.

A boat cruise on the Bosphorus, a visit to the home of a local grandmother and a walk through the harem rooms of Topkapi Palace added more depth to our experience.

A tour of the underground city of Kaymakli revealed long tunnels and small rooms carved into the soft limestone, spanning 18 floors to a depth of about 300 feet, where thousands of people hid for months on end to escape marauding armies in the seventh and eighth centuries BC. And a visit to the Sultanhani caravan stop, which now houses a display of antique Turkish rugs, gave us a glimpse into the large and beautifully designed fortress that gave caravans overnight refuge.

I experienced my first Turkish bath, leaving me limp but invigorated after an hour’s steaming, scrubbing, pummeling and massaging by some very strong women, all unabashedly naked above the waist.

Turkey is a country of immense natural beauty with unique landscapes and impressive geological formations. At the ancient city of Hieropolis, we visited crystalclear pools in which Cleopatra and her lover Mark Antony are believed to have bathed, then walked in baking heat along the petrified white calcium lined thermal pools that cascaded down the hillside at Pamukkale (Cotton Castle).

We saw other natural formations in the Zelve Valley, with its clusters of tall, upright conical- capped “fairy chimneys.” Devrent (Camel) Valley also had many fairy chimneys, but the view there was made distinctive by a large rock formation that resembles a sitting camel.

The ancient city of Ephesus offered picturesque ruins, including an impressive library facade, arena and amphitheater. Excavation of upper-class Roman houses has revealed intricate mosaic floors and delicately painted floral mo- tifs on walls. Of particular interest to me was the bas relief carving of the goddess Nike; the loose “check-mark” in her flowing skirt is believed to have been the inspiration for the artist who developed the Nike “swoosh” symbol. Look closely, and you can see it.

-But by far the most impressive and memorable experience of the entire trip was a hot-air balloon ride in Cappadocia (Cap-uh-dók-i-a), a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Rising well before dawn, we knuckled sleep from our eyes as we settled into a small van for the 20-minute drive to the balloon grounds. Traveling over bumpy, unpaved roads across a vast, flat field, we saw the soft glow of hundreds of inflated balloons gently lifting into the pale sky as the rising sun cast its peachy glow on the horizon.

The balloon was nearly completely inflated as we stepped into the basket of “Juliet,” the hot-air balloon we were to travel in. Its sturdy woven basket was large and rectangular, about 3 1/2 feet high, and divided into eight sections, with each section able to accommodate two or three eager and excited tourists.

It was piloted by Romero, a handsome young man in his early 30s, who wore a baseball cap with the brim fashionably reversed over his neck. His co-pilot appeared to be about the same age. Several young men were spaced around the balloon, serving as ground crew.

Before we could depart, our pilot gave us landing instructions: as we approached the ground on our return, at his command we were to squat-sit in the lowest possible position in the basket, with our heads well below the rim.

After those brief instructions, we were off, slowly rising into the air, the only sound being the excited chatter of our fellow tourists and an occasional “whoosh” as Romero released flaming hot air into the interior of the balloon with a hand lever.

Gradually the chatter subsided and we were floating in silent peace, drifting gently in the wind. Many other colorful balloons were also airborne, some glowing, but others, farther away, still dark silhouettes against the sky. All were comfortably spaced apart, giving us no cause for alarm or concern about a mid-air collision with another balloon. It was a truly magical sensation, drifting in silence, with warm, gentle breezes caressing our faces as we gazed in awe at the beautiful and dramatic tableau all around us.

As the sun crested the horizon, it illuminated with increasing clarity a breathtaking and alien-looking landscape marked by tall “fairy chimneys” and ridges with deep crevasses of white stone leading into narrow valleys. Millennia ago, volcanoes spewed soft tufa rock across the land, creating these remarkable geological shapes that have since been shaped and sculpted by the wind and water.

Reaching a height of 2,000 feet, we enjoyed a miles-long view of the landscape below us in all directions, and the rising sun provided an even better view of the varied rock formations below. Our pilot deftly guided the balloon down into a valley ringed with white tufa ridges and pinnacles. At one point, we were so low I was able to take a few pictures of horses frisking in a pen and camels pointedly ignoring us as we drifted overhead.

We continued to float across the land with a beautiful sight at every turn, and then the pilots began to guide us back to the landing spot. We could see “chasers” creating dust rooster tails on the dirt trails as they drove their trailers to the location where their assigned balloon was expected to land. Below us, it looked as if one pilot had misjudged and had landed his balloon precariously close to a s teep c liff s ide. B ut o ur a ble pilots continued on and, after dropping ropes to a small ground crew, they were able to expertly and gently land the balloon directly on top of the trailer that was to haul it away.

After a cheer and applause to salute our pilots’ skill, our group clambered out of the basket and milled around in the early morning sun exclaiming with pleasure at the experience.

The pilots and ground crew set up a cloth-covered table on which they placed a semicircle of glass flutes filled with red fruit juice and sparkling grape juice. Sprays of red roses were decoratively arranged alongside the refreshments.

After everyone raised their glass in a toast, the roses were distributed to the ladies, certificates were handed out, and we stepped back into the van, leaving our magical experience behind as we traveled back to rejoin the real world.