I was up bright and early at 4:30AM this morning to catch the sunrise flight of the famous hot air balloons of Cappadocia. Nick ended up waking up too and snuck out of our hotel room to go up the stairs right outside our room to the roof deck. About 5 minutes later we heard Millie shrieking with terror “mama! Dada!” because she had woken up and realized we weren’t in the room. We were close by and ran right to her, but I’ve felt guilty about it all day.

On a positive note, her early (and traumatizing) wakeup meant we could watch them together. I’ve seen a million photos of these on the internet but it didn’t make it feel any less special to see them slowly floating up into the dawn sky, occasionally lighting up like fireflies with the flames that lift them.

I was happy to be witnessing their beauty from this vantage point and not from a basket full of people in the sky.

The show was over at 6am and we managed to all go back to sleep for an hour before breakfast.

After breakfast we drove to attempt to hike the Love Valley trail before the heat of the day kicked in. This is how far Millie got from the car before she told us her legs were tired.

We walked to the top of the hill but got cut off and realized we were in the wrong place. We got back in the car and tried to find the trailhead, but there was road construction preventing us from getting there. There are no signs here and Google Maps is only about 80% accurate so we couldn’t figure out how to get to the trail.

We did manage to see the “fairy chimneys” or Love Valley from a distance. Nick’s grandma reads this blog so I will make no further comments on what these natural structures may or may not look like.

We drove on to our second stop, Kaymaklı Underground city. This city was similar to the carved out rooms we had seen yesterday, except far down into the rock. We were able to see four stories down but it goes much deeper and wider than what visitors can access.

Beyond being a feat of engineering, this was heaven for a 4 year old. It was cool and out of the sun. Nothing was off limits. We could roam around it and get lost in a “choose your own adventure” kind of way. And there were secret tunnels and passageways and ladders to climb. We followed Millie’s lead around it. I was thankful that of all my irrational fears and phobias (bears, lightning, etc) claustrophobia is not one of them.

We eavesdropped on the English-speaking guides that were all around us and noticed that they were giving conflicting information to their groups. Later, Nick googled to figure out the facts, only to learn that it was different than what both of them had said. This could be a great career path for Millie who is already in training, confidently telling me “this is where they kept their baby. This is where they kept their microwave. This is where they pooped.” as we walked through.

Like yesterday, we spent the afternoon at the pool and playing in the room. Millie learned how to use my self-timer and how to change the lens on my camera. We had a little photo shoot. She swam the length of the small pool a few times and is doing so well with her swimming.

We showered and got ready for dinner. We booked a traditional testi kebab, which is meat cooked over flames in a terracotta pot. The pot is then broken in front of you and it’s served on a very hot dish that sizzles like fajitas. It was yummy and comforting and a fun experience. The highlight for Millie was getting to eat sitting on the floor at a low table.