99 Balloons (Day 12 of the World Trip)

16th September 2019

Since the hot air balloon rides mentioned in a previous blog post cost at least €150 per person and are therefore outside of our intended budget, but we still wanted to watch the spectacle at least once, we got up today at 5:40 am :O For the fifth time already, we went up this hill (...) and when we arrived at the top, we could already see some hot air balloons that were still on the ground and slowly being filled with hot air. We had already seen a few photos beforehand and knew that there are many hot air balloons at once, but that there were really SO many was quite impressive :)

Since our hill is located on the outskirts of the city, most of our photos weren't that spectacular. But seeing it live from up there was really cool. Gradually, more and more balloons were rising (even in photo range^^) and yeah, we watched the whole thing for about an hour, just like countless other tourists who could simply stand on the roof of their hostels or hotels, because almost every accommodation here has a terrace with sofas and cushions on the roof, probably exactly for the purpose of watching the balloons. On our hill, however, we were alone except for a (Quechua <3) tent with 3 men and a dog, which probably belongs to someone in the village^^

When we wanted to go back to our warm bed (it was really cold!), a balloon flew directly over our hill :) Jonas, wearing flip flops (? ...), sprinted back up the hill and was able to wave to the about 20 people in the balloon basket from up close. It looked like Jonas had to almost duck so he wouldn't be knocked over :D On the way downhill to the hostel, we took more photos and many of them were even more impressive than the ones from above. But whatever. We weren't only there for the photos ;-)

Back at the hostel, we warmed up in bed before having our last breakfast. Let's see what awaits us tomorrow, but the breakfast at the Stay in Peace Cave Hostel was really great - at least for Jonas and me, maybe not for gourmets or all-you-can-eat lovers^^ After breakfast, we just packed our bags and at 9:30 am we went to the bus station. I actually wanted to check out at 9:20 am so we could leave at exactly 9:30 am, but of course, all the bathrooms were occupied and then the receptionist wasn't at his desk :O Contrary to my concern, we still managed to leave on time and reached the bus station at 9:39 am.

Jonas had previously pointed out to me that we didn't need to show up before 10 am, but I was skeptical. On one hand, there is a southern mentality here and on the other hand, it is often said "yallah yallah", so I wanted to play it safe :p I guess I have to learn to not be overly punctual during this trip :D :D

At 10:10 am, a small white stray cat appeared, which made itself comfortable on Jonas' lap and enjoyed being petted. At 10:33 am, the bus arrived ;-) For the equivalent of €10 for the approximately 3-hour journey, I didn't expect much, but I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable and "luxurious" the bus was. The seats were soft with headrests and sufficient legroom. There was even an entertainment system like on long-haul flights (which wasn't turned on :p ). Additionally, there was a kind of "attendant" who provided people with free water and neck pillows during the journey. Not bad! :O :)

The journey itself was again quite boring in terms of scenery. It was flat and you could see for miles. But there was nothing to see except for the ground^^ Occasionally, we passed small tent settlements reminiscent of nomadism. Otherwise, as I said, the journey was really comfortable and time flew by. After about 3 hours, we arrived at the bus station in Konya. The bus stations in larger cities are always on the outskirts and since our hotel is pretty much in the center, we still needed a means of transportation to reach the hotel. Initially, we planned to take a minibus (dolmuş) but then we saw that there is also a tram here.

I was a bit skeptical, but Jonas showed me on Maps.me that there was a station only 900m from our hotel, so it was a no-brainer :) At the ticket counter, Jonas mentioned the name of that station (Aladdin, no joke!) and the employee replied to us in German :D What a coincidence! As we later found out, we had completely mispronounced the name - namely, the way we pronounce the film/the musical. But the actual emphasis here is different. Oh well. Everything worked out fine anyway :)

When we arrived at the hotel, we encountered communication problems again because the receptionist didn't speak English... Jonas showed our booking confirmation on his phone and the receptionist could make sense of it :) He told us something in Turkish, but hopefully it wasn't important ;-) After checking into our 3-bed room (one bed as a storage space is not bad!), we went out into the city.

The hotel is about 100m away from the Mevlana Museum, THE sight in Konya. But we will visit the museum tomorrow. Today, the priority was food after having a lunch consisting of 4 chocolate cookies :O :D We strolled through the (presumably?) old town, along an alley that was exclusively filled with jewelry stores, mostly gold ones. One store followed the next on both sides. How any merchant could sustain themselves here is a mystery to us...

Ultimately, we found a "restaurant" and were warmly welcomed. We received a menu in Turkish and above the counter were a few photos of the dishes. Jonas immediately decided on börek, but I was still somewhat skeptical. Something without onions, without cheese, without meat, without tomatoes - yes, Turkey is perfect for that :p ;-) In the end, I settled for etliekmek (or something similar °-°), also a pide. Since the waiter served us in English, I dared to ask if I could have it without onions. Unfortunately, my question confused him because he didn't understand it, and he quickly sought help. The new colleague asked me to speak very slowly and then actually understood me :) By that point, I was feeling a little uncomfortable. I don't like it when someone has to make an extra effort... :D But oh well. At least I got a portion without onions!! :)

Before the main dish arrived, we were served a plate of greens and wondered what to do with it. There was also a small bowl of a paste that we already knew - a slightly spicy and really delicious mix. We nervously looked at the other guests to see what they were doing with this food, but either they had bread (which we didn't have) or they had soup (which we also didn't have). We cautiously nibbled on the greens, but it already felt strange to us.

Then our pides were served (I had about double the portion of Jonas). For those who don't feel like googling what a pide is - it's a sliced and topped flatbread that looks like a flammkuchen or a very thin pizza, but in the shape of a baguette. But since only a fork was served as cutlery and the pide slices were too big to eat them like pizza slices, we were once again cautious. Coincidentally, I made eye contact with our translator and Jonas and I gestured to scatter the salad on the pide and then roll them. He gave us a thumbs-up and repeated the rolling gesture. Proudly, I rolled my pide from the short side and immediately our translator jumped up and shouted "no, no!" Oops! :O Of course, you roll it from the long side... But it was all quite funny and kind-hearted, and it was also really delicious :)

As usual, for dessert, we had chocolate cookies for 1 lira (16 cents) from a small supermarket. And now we're winding down, planning for tomorrow, maybe taking a little stroll, all very easy on such a "travel day" ;-)