Konya

Konya is really just a stop-over place as we make our way toward Cappadocia. We did stop at Aspendos which happens to be the home of (another) amphitheatre as well as a Roman aqueduct. The theatre is known to be one of the best preserved theatres for its age (around 2000 years) but was a little tacky with people dressed as Roman soldiers and you could get photos with soldier holding a blue and yellow macaw (a parrot in a Roman theatre...huh?) Anything to make some money I suppose. Turkey has suffered because of covid and lost a lot of tourism but they are on their way back.

At Konya we visited The Mevlâna Museum which is the mausoleum of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, a Persian Sufi mystic. This is where the practice of whirling, or whirling dervishes started. We attended a whirling dervish show in a restored caravansy which is kind of like a fort that served as protection along the Silk Road for the travellers. Kinda like a Caravan Servo every 35km which I guess is how far they travelled in a day.

The whirling dervish show was not quite what I expected. I have seen a whirling dervish in Egypt and he started spinning in quite a frenzy. This one was quite tame and more traditional. The other one probably was not authentic. There is a short video of them in action.Read more