After a 125 km drive from Kayseri to Cappadocia, we had one of the most beautiful hotels I’ve ever stayed at. Of course, because I never lived in a cave before.

On enquiring about the ballooon flight, we were told that no flights were being operated on account of weather. We had almost given up, but something made us step in to a travel shop. We were more than delighted to learn that flights were being operated, but in an equal dilemma about spending €100. But we realized it was now or never and booked ourselves. The rest was beyond imagination.

At 6a, we headed to the site where balloons were being readied for flight. After a brief safety explanation of safety procedures, we were airborne with captain Jemal. His maneuvers around the soft rocks formed from volcanic deposits.

Hot Air Baloon firing up in Cappadocia

Uploaded by Prasad Gupte on 2016-02-04.

The basket was skillfully landed on a trailer.

We came back to our hotel and had a hearty breakfast, relishing freshly prepared Gosleme. We then trekked to Sunset point, right above our hotel room, to get a view of the fairy chimneys.

We drove back to Kayseri to drop our car, and took Havatas to the Otogar where our bus to Denizli left. The bus was very comfortable: temperature control, reclining seats, entertainment screen, beverages, and best of all, WiFi. It stopped every couple of hours for a bio-break. At one point, the temperature panel showed 0 degrees on our way to Pammukale for Day 5 of our Turkey Roadtrip..