Konya (day 8)

Today we spent the whole day in Konya, so there was no need to prepare a packed lunch. Of course, we still started the day with breakfast. After breakfast, we walked to the nearby city center, where we first stopped at the tourist information office to find out where we needed to go for the whirling dervish ritual (a branch of Islam) and to ask about the main highlights of Konya. The staff member marked three spots on a map for us.

Following their advice, we visited all three places: first, the tomb of an important scholar / philosopher / teacher, then a 13th-century mosque, where we also went inside, and finally a ceramics museum. We were finished quite early, still in the morning. Since we had already made a shopping list before leaving the apartment, we decided to go grocery shopping. At first, we couldn’t find a supermarket anywhere, so we bought fresh vegetables at the huge market hall. And, just as we walked out of the hall (you can guess it...) there was a big supermarket right in front of us! We got the rest of our groceries there and headed back to the apartment, where we had lunch. After lunch, we relaxed for a bit, and then I took a siesta until mid-afternoon. Later, we visited the dervish museum located just behind the large mosque. On the grounds of this museum there is an annex of the mosque where important figures of the dervish order are buried, including its founder. Inside, there are also various artifacts, and outside the building there are small rooms set up as the living quarters of dervishes (complete with mannequins), along with other rooms displaying items that plays a role in their daily lives. After visiting the museum, we went straight to a restaurant for dinner, where we enjoyed a delicious meal. Then we briefly returned to the apartment to grab a vest (by now it was dark, and the evening air can be fresh) before heading back to the same complex to attend the ritual dance of the dervishes. This ceremony consists of the dervishes spinning in circles on their own axis, with their heads tilted, and their arms held in specific positions in the air. The ritual is meant to help them enter a trance-state and come spiritually closer to Allah. The performance, which lasted about an hour, was a very special experience to witness! Afterwards, we walked back to the apartment to end the day. Tomorrow we continue our journey to the Cappadocia region, famous for the countless hot air balloons that rise into the sky at sunrise every day, which is a spectacular thing to see. We’ll be staying in Cappadocia for three nights, so you’ll be hearing more about it in the coming days!

Day 7

Travel overview

Day 9