Mado-ice cream is a century-old chain that has more than a hundred branches in Turkey alone (not counting overseas branches). They serve Turkish ice-cream made with traditional techniques and the flavors are more or less like the ones at a typical gelato shop. I was surprised they have a branch here in such a remote location.
The pistachio ice-cream was a little too soft for my liking but I like the rich flavors. Now that we're done with our ice-cream, it's time to go back and crash early because we have something important to do before dawn.
We woke up around 4am thanks to the music from a neighbouring church. It was time for us to wake up anyways as Anatolian Balloons Cappadocia had a driver to pick us up from our hotel.
Hot air ballooning is obviously very popular in the Cappadocia region due to the amazing landscape and gorgeous view from up top. No wonder thousands show up at this hour waiting to get airborne.
For a moment, I thought our ride would be canceled as there was not enough wind this morning (we were told that by the organizers). They were even deflating the air balloons at one point.
I obviously couldn't hide my disappointment.
We quickly took a few pictures and were all set to leave the valley.
But suddenly winds began to blow and they announced it was a go! Let's get those air balloons ready, baby~!
All set ready to fly...
It was my first air balloon ride so naturally, I was a little nervous.
But as soon as we got airborne, I no longer had those butterflies in my stomach.
The skies were finally getting clearer and brighter for us.
This view of the valleys was truly incredible.
There have to be at least hundreds of these air balloons floating around the sky.
And it felt like we were chasing each other all over the valleys.
Finally, we were starting to slow down and ready to land. We were instructed to duck down once we heard their signal.
A toast to very good and safe landing.
A certificate for this memorable experience from my "pilot".
It was truly a remarkable experience cruising through the valleys of Cappadocia in these hot air balloons. It was a little nerve-wracking at times to be floating around these bizarre shaped rock formations and be able to touch them with my bare hands but it's an experience I will bring back home to cherish for the rest of my life. And quite frankly, I don't think I have the balls to do it again some other time.
Food Rating: 4.5/10
Price: €€
Address: Kavaklıönü Mahallesi, Şht. Cem Bul Cd., 50400 Ürgüp / Nevşehir, Turkey
Tel: +90 384 341-8500
Website: www.mado.com.tr/english
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