![\"northern-turkey\"](\"https:\/\/dndtour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/northern-turkey.jpg\")
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Evelin wasn\u2019t sure of the hot air ballooning, since she\u2019s got fear of heights, but after some convincing and seeing some photos she was in!<\/p>\n
Cappadocia<\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0is a unique place because of its natural rock formations and the beauty that\u2019s derived from them. Houses, and today hotels, are carved out of the soft rocks of volcanic deposits, some of them being tower or minaret-like.<\/p>\n You can also see Mount Erciyes with its 3917m snowy peak.<\/p>\n Little valleys and canyons criss-cross the area, giving endless opportunities for hikers, campers and other adventurers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Kaya Camping where we stayed had just the perfect setup for us. It wasn\u2019t crowded, facilities were clean and we managed to secure a spot for ourselves with a view.<\/p>\n We arrived on time to set up our camp nicely and cook a great meal.<\/p>\n My only worry was that we had to get up at 3.30am for our hot air balloon flight. That\u2019s not even getting up early, that\u2019s getting up during the night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As it turned out, getting up after only a few hours of sleep was totally worth it!<\/p>\n The hot air balloon flight in Cappadocia was one of the best activities I\u2019ve done anywhere in the entire world \u2013\u00a0it\u2019s got to be in my top 3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Having said that, the experience is very \u2018touristy\u2019. You\u2019re standing in the small basket of the balloon with 20 other people for more than an hour.<\/p>\n Everyone\u2019s over-excited and pushing their selfie sticks into your face. But if you can somehow just ignore that, your focus will be on the sunrise from an altitude of 850 meters and with a view that\u2019s completely unique.<\/p>\n About 150 balloons take off on more than 300 days of the year and since the weather is hardly ever disappointing, the view from any of those balloons is breathtaking.<\/p>\n Despite all the hassle of getting up early (and all the selfie sticks), I really recommend hot air ballooning in Cappadocia if you\u2019re ever visiting the place.<\/p>\n The early morning start also meant we were back to the campsite by half past seven in the morning.<\/p>\n We had a great breakfast, after which we had the chance to catch up on sorting out the hundreds of pictures and videos we took over the previous days.<\/p>\n A lot is happening during a day, so we end up with so many photos and so much footage that it\u2019ll be hard to stay organized.<\/p>\n We didn\u2019t leave the campsite again until we went for a quick run to the nearby vineyard. It was a really relaxing day, and we decided to stay another two nights instead of just one.<\/p>\n Given that, I went on to book the \u2018Sunset<\/a>\u00a0ATV Tour\u2019 by one of the tour agencies. They were picking us up at 5.45pm the next day.<\/p>\n We spent most of the third day in Cappadocia in the campsite again, just relaxing and enjoying the view. We had our\u00a0ATV<\/u>\u00a0tour in the evening so we used the day to work on our own online projects and just enjoy the fact that we weren\u2019t sitting in the car.<\/p>\n This is also part of overlanding. Sometimes you just have to take some days off and enjoy wherever you end up after days or weeks of driving.<\/p>\n Later in the afternoon, we met Maxime and Vince from Belgium. They\u2019re traveling for one year and the first leg of their journey takes them to Kyrgyzstan overland.<\/p>\n They\u2019re driving a Peugeot all the way from Belgium to Central Asia, after which they\u2019ll be backpacking around the world.<\/p>\n I think doing a journey with an old Peugeot is quite brave!\u00a0But this just proves that if you\u2019re into overlanding, you really can drive anything!<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n Hey joined us on the\u00a0ATV tour<\/a>\u00a0in the early evening, after which we watched Belgium playing against Japan in the soccer world cup. Belgium won, so Maxime and Vince were very happy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I was really looking forward to some offroading action with this little machine, but it was more about rolling from one place to another in a perfect line while negotiating hundreds of other tourists on dusty tracks.<\/p>\n While the tour was cheap and our guide was a really nice guy,I still wouldn\u2019t recommend going any of these ATV tours around the area. I think it\u2019s better to hike around and discover it for yourself.<\/p>\n We were leaving in the morning and decided to drive together with Maxime and Vince all the way to Eastern Turkey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I feel like we haven\u2019t done enough in Cappadocia. We had a great relaxing three days there but we haven\u2019t really explored the area and haven\u2019t learned much about its history.<\/p>\n We should\u2019ve done a long hike in the canyons, and having a day to walk around town would have been great too.<\/p>\n So relaxing for three days meant missing out on a few things \u2013 though the upside is that we have plenty of reasons to come back someday. At that point we will make sure to visit\u00a0Istanbul<\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0as well!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"cappadocia-drone-photo\"](\"https:\/\/dndtour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/cappadocia-drone-photo.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"camping-in-cappadocia-rooftop-tent\"](\"https:\/\/dndtour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/camping-in-cappadocia-rooftop-tent.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"cappadocia-hot-air-ballooning1\"](\"https:\/\/dndtour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/cappadocia-hot-air-ballooning1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"hot-air-ballooning-in-cappadocia-1500-people\"](\"https:\/\/dndtour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/hot-air-ballooning-in-cappadocia-1500-people.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"cappadocia-drone-photo2\"](\"https:\/\/dndtour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/cappadocia-drone-photo2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"cappadocia-rock-formations-minaret\"](\"https:\/\/dndtour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/cappadocia-rock-formations-minaret.jpg\")
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