Each year, it attracts over one hundred hot air balloons from all over the world, all of different shapes, colors, and sizes.
What's more, the entire park is a veritable amusement park, complete with a stage where live bands often perform.
As if that weren't enough, Bristol is only about two hours from London and it is a very interesting and lively town which in itself is a good reason to go.
Since I had read that the hot air balloons would take flight early in the morning (and my girlfriend and I didn't want to miss that moment for any reason), we decided it would be smarter to leave very early in the morning, so as to be in Bristol around seven in the morning.
She picked me up at home around five o'clock, when it was still pitch black outside, everybody was fast asleep, and it was already raining lightly outside.
Along with some food to munch on during the day, I brought a pillow and a large, heavy blanket, in case we decided to stay in Bristol overnight and sleep in the car.
After picking up other two friends of ours who live in a small village not far from us, we set Bristol as our destination in the navigation system and left.
Despite the traffic we encountered along the way, which intensified as we neared our destination, we managed to arrive at the park where the festival was being held right on time.
We parked the car and immediately realized how large, spectacular, and famous this event must be, judging simply by the size of the specially arranged parking lot and the inhuman number of cars desperately seeking a spot.
The event is three days long and it is completely free of charge, only parking is to pay for as this is organized by a non-profit organization but they try to make up for the costs of organizing it at least.
After finding a spot for our car, we began walking downhill toward a flat area of the park, where we began to see some hot air balloons emerging.
When we arrived, however, we were decidedly disappointed to discover that the park was overrun with people, some crowded around the stage where a concert was taking place, others crowded into the street food stands, still others into the amusement park games that had been set up just a few meters from the lawn where the hot air balloons still lay.
Maybe I had never seen so many people crowded together in one place in my entire life, and what's more, the main attraction of the event, the hot air balloons, seemed to play no role at all.
They lay on the grass, deflated and sad, and no one paid them the slightest attention. Only later as they began to be inflated, and little by little as they began to rise from the ground, people cleared around them to look up and enjoy the magnificent show. Finally, dozens and dozens of hot air balloons stood upright in the middle of the stage, ready to take flight, surrounded by thousands of people dancing to the blaring music blasting from the speakers.
And then, amidst all that chaotic and colorful spectacle, people remained speechless. We were literally ecstatic, overjoyed to be there in that moment, enjoying this almost unrepeatable wonder.
And it didn't end there.
In fact, as the sun began to fade, the hot air balloons literally began to dance.
The lights they emitted followed the rhythm of the music, and the people all around couldn't help but dance and sing.
It truly felt like being in a movie, or some kind of original music video.
