Life is like a balloon.

I was wondering when the moment would come to write something negative on this blog.

Well, yesterday it finally happened, I couldn’t cycle anymore. After 3 months of powerful courage, my bicycle didn’t want to go further. The chain failed to hit the little teeth of the cassette. It took the bike shop in the nearby town a while to get to know the problem, it might be the hub that is broken.

They will try to fix it.

Luckily, the rest of the day was a dream, because we arrived in… Cappadocia!

We found the most beautiful camping Kaya, away from the touristic center Göreme, really planted in the calm to enjoy the beautiful landscape of Cappadocia.

While all the tourists seem to concentrate themselves in Göreme, the hiking paths outside this little village are breathlessly beautiful and calm, a little paradise away from society.

We came fully relaxed back at the camp site, to jump in the swimming pool.

After dining with a delicious pasta camp meal while enjoying sunset, we walked 10 minutes and enjoyed the little light-lit Goreme between the lava scattered rocks.

While doing that, we met 2 Iranian people who invited us for an early morning tea the next day to see the balloons at sunrise. Meanwhile, the guy told us a heartbreaking story. He was a steward who checked in all the passengers on flight of the Boeing 737-800. Remember, the one that was shot down after takeoff, with all passengers and crew killed. This nice man therefore created #World_with_tree, a project with the aim to plant a tree in different countries for every person who was killed. We really love this brave people.

About these balloons: we’re still not sure if they will take off, but we will get up early to take a look, so fingers crossed!

Life is like a balloon; if you never let yourself go, you will never know how far you can rise.* This morning Cappadocian balloons finally flew out after a few days cancelled flights because of heavy wind. What a mighty feeling to watch these balloons soar over the sunrise-lit Cappadocian landscape! Eyes glinstering, mind satisfied! We enjoyed breakfast and superb Iranian tea with our new Iranian friends to conclude this epic morning.

2 wondrous hikes in this paradise and one magnificent morning amidst the balloons: Cappadocia, you've far overthrown our expectations!

The next 2 days we are busy with travelling back and forth to Ankara to get our Iranian visum. A tiring, expensive experience. Luckily our host Kasim cooks an evening meal for us, give us a quiet place to rest and is ever friendly. I also got a very positive message that my bike has been fixed.

At this moment we are reloading batteries, indulging the Turkish food at our best.

Tomorrow, we follow the sun further east, the next adventure is yet to come.