5. From Istanbul: 3-Day Cappadocia Tour with Balloon Ride
The experience will starts when we pick you up from one of the airports in Cappadocia ((NAV or ASR airports) Our Cappadocia tour will start with Göreme panorama, where we'll have the opportunity to explain how Cappadocia come into existence as we know it. Then we will drive to Göreme open air museum, to explore this grand religious complex and it's famous cave churches. We will continue our tour with a visit to Devrent valley, to let our imagination run wild and trying to figure out which rock looks like what. Then we will pay a visit to town of Avanos for lunch. A visit to a pottery workshop is necessary while in Avanos, so we'll get into one, and let our hands get dirty with clay. With the end of the tour, we will take you to your hotel, to relax and get ready for tomorrow. After getting a good nights sleep, you'll need to get up quite early for a hot air balloon flight at sunrise, at Soğanlı Valley. Your pick up vehicle should arrive pre-dawn and all you have to do is getting into the car and let us take you to your balloon basket. After flying for 1-hour and landing, you'll celebrate it with a champagne toast, as tradition dictates. After that, we will take you to the hotel and you'll have brief time window to have your breakfast before your van arrives for the second part of your tour. Now we're going south, mainly Kaymaklı underground city, and Ihlara valley. Our first stop is Pigeon Valley at the town of Uçhisar. We'll have some time to talk about the pigeons of the region and the Uçhisar castle. This stop will also give us excellent opportunities to take excellent photos. Then we will hit the road once again, to see Kaymaklı underground city, it literally is a city, but underground; with it's living areas, stables, kitchens, places of worship, cellars and even cemeteries. After spending enough time at the Underground City, we will drive approximately 1 hour to Ihlara valley. Once we reach there we will descent into the valley trough stairs and start admiring this unique place. This visit will include at least a 3,5 km hike, so better be prepared. Once we get what we want from this lovely canyon. We will stop by the little stream of Belisrıma which goes trough the canyon, for a lunch. Our last point of visit will be Selime monastery, the biggest religious building in entire Cappadocia. With the end of the tour, we will take you back to your hotel. On the third day, following your breakfast, we will once again come for you; to take you to the airport for your flight back to İstanbul.