Sultanhani Seljuk caravanserai

Oh what a day! Every day is better than the last as we learn and appreciate türkiye’s complex rich history.
We drove part of the actual silk road today which was made up of a series of routes 2nd century to 15th century and connected east with west for traders of silk, spices, rugs, ceramics, homewares, gold, animals and food predominately. In Türkiye, a series of buildings were set up every 28 km in a portion of the route from Konya to Aksaray province to increase the safety of traders travelling with their loot and thereby increase local economics, expand tools and increase farming ability. Called caravanserai, the largest is called Sultanhani Seljuk caravanserai and is the best preserved. They were like safety houses for traders and their families travelling by with animals/loot and the first example of an insurance policy on offer as a record was kept at entry and exit. If a trader was missing his loot/animals he was reimbursed and the culprit found and punished. As a result traders liked to come to türkiye and brought many goods, especially the chinese. It has incredible architecture, tiling, room zoning, rugs and engraved stones. whilst there we met some lovely women who were weaving a new rug. there were many beautiful turkish rugs on display in what was once the old internal winter space for the traders in the caravansei. truly truly beautiful.Read more