We have just discovered a place that we found really fascinating: Konya.
To be honest, I hadn’t heard of it until I started looking into places to go in Turkey and I thought “well it is on our way to Cappadoccia, I guess it will be a nice break for a night”.
The town quickly passed from the statuse of layover to a full 3 day city trip.
Our first activity was to go and see the famous whirling Dervishes.
The entrance was 50 TL (+-2,50 EUR) per person, Lilia was free.
In order to understand what you are seeing, it is important to have a bit of context otherwise it will just seem like a very long ritual.
Rumi was a Persian poet, Islamic theologian and Sufi mystic from the 13th century. His mausoleum is in Konya. The Mevlevi Order is a Sufi Order that was founded by his followers at his death in 1273.
They believe that the use of music, poetry and dance is a path for reaching God which is why the Mevlevis are also known as the “whirling Dervishes”.
The ceremony is called Sema (whirling) and has different parts:
- A solo singer offers an eulogy to the Prophet Muhamad.
- Next, the Ney (type of flute) is played. The Ney represents the Divine Breath which gives life to everything.
- The Dervishes walk to the music round the hall three times bowing to the Dervish in front of them and then to the one behind them at the beginning of each circuit. This represents the acknowledgement of the Divine breath which has been breathed into all of us and is a salutation from soul to soul. The dervishes then remove their black cloaks.
- The Dervishes start whirling (the four Salams) in order to reach union with God.
- Reading of the Quran
This hour long ceremony is completely mesmerising and calming. I think it should not be seen as a tourist attraction but as an occasion to be immersed in a cultural experience.
The next day, we wanted to do something special for Lilia, as we know that sightseeing is not always very exciting for young kids (although she proved us wrong the next day).
We headed to the Konya Science Centre. We got there and were absolutely flabbergasted! We were standing in front of a huge, ultra modern building.
We went in, bought our tickets for 17 TL (+-0,93 EUR) for the three of us (!) and were warmly welcomed by a woman who spoke perfect English. She explained that there were 6 different sections on two floors (the human body, space, nature…) and a playing area.
We were then left to explore. We spent over 4 hours there, reading, touching and experimenting all kinds of cool activities. There was even a place were you could be harnessed and jump so that you can feel what it is like to walk on the moon.
“our astronauts”
“even the adults had fun”
The third day was devoted to the centre of Konya.
We started with the Mevlana Museum. It was originally a Dervish lodge which was closed after the proclamation of the Republic in 1925 and opened as a museum by Attatürk in 1927.
Many pilgrims come here because the Rumi’s mausoleum is there.
We really learnt lots of things here. Lilia was very interested and asked lots of questions about Islam, how people lived here before, etc. Something we didn’t expect turned into a great opportunity for worldschooling.
Then we walked to Aladdin’s mosque, on the top of Aladdin’s Hill. It is part of the citadel complex that contained the Seljuk Palace and was the Seljuk Sultans’ main prayer hall. It was built in the 12th Century and was completely renovated between 2014 and 2021.
Finally we visited the Museum of Sculpture of Wood and Stone which contained really beautiful pieces.
Even though in this city, the bikinis and beers of the beach of Southern Turkey are swapped for veils and prayer beads, the cohabitation of modern and traditional is remarkable.
We are not usually big fans of museums but we must admit we had a great time in every single one we entered in this city and loved the atmosphere in general.
We stayed at a campervan site with electricity, water, showers and toilets provided by the city. You are allowed to stay for a maximum of 3 days. It is completely free, there is 24h surveillance and it is right outside a huge park, barely 300 m from the tram which will take you to the centre.
Don’t hesitate to visit this city that has something to offer for everyone!