Before dawn, hundreds of balloons inflate; by law up to 150 can fly at once. As the first light hits, the sky fills and an endless stone forest spreads below.
Those spires are “fairy chimneys” — volcanic ash from eruptions millions of years ago, carved by wind and rain. A thousand years ago Byzantine monks hollowed them into churches and painted frescoes inside.
The bigger wonder is underground: in 1963 a man broke through a wall in his house and uncovered Derinkuyu, a city descending ~85 m through roughly 18 levels — enough to hide some 20,000 people with their livestock and food.
85 m deep. ~18 levels; could shelter ~20,000 people