Konya

Three hour bus ride southwest across the Anatolian Plain took us to Konya.  The flat landscape was virtually treeless, fitting a semi-arid plateau.  In one small village we passed through the tractor dealership was as large as the car dealer.  This area is called the 'Bread Basket of Turkey'.

Konya is another large city ~ one million.  (Ten years ago it was 400,000!  Turkey - urban is mushrooming with growth.)  The bus station on the outskirts has been sized for the growing town and is quite fancy.  A covered marble walkway lead us to the tram station downtown.  Crowded.

Here was another time where the essential friendliness of the ordinary Turkish citizen came through.  Young Turks offer their train/bus & tram seats to older Turks.  Also to Miriam and, occasionally, myself as the white-bearded old fart.  A young lady took our suitcase in front of her knee, while a second offered Miriam a seat.  Thanks & Thanks.  They also directed us to the correct stop 'en francais', our shared language.

Apparently Konya is in the Turkish equivalent of the 'Bible Belt'.  Don't know enough to say - except all the restaurants we used over three days did not have beer or wine.  There was also none of the little hole-in-wall shops we have found elsewhere with the necessities in the cooler.  Just saying.

Konya has the burial shrine / museum of Rumi - Mevlana, notable 13th century religious mystic, poet and founder of the Dervish Orders.  The fluted, turquoise tile tower over his tomb is unique.  There are large numbers of Turks who visit as a religious pilgrimage.  The first ten Sufi leaders and the Mevlana's family are also buried inside. Atop each tomb, row on row, the size, colour and number of wrappings on the turban denote the amount of religious grace.

Our hotel is a recently renovated 150 year old Ottoman house.  Only eight rooms in a two story, nicely proportioned residence, lots of large wood framed windows, wood ceilings and floors - shoes left at the front door.  Our standard Turkish breakfast offers one egg, different breads, cheeses, olives, cucumber, tomatoes with fruit, juice (sometimes Tang!), yoghurt and cereal served in the basement.  Happy surprise -  Honey in honeycomb chunks rather than commercial packages.  Our neighbourhood is the old centre so there are many similar houses, just missing the new paint.

This peacock was on the wall of the worst dining experience so far.  Food choices were mixed.  Delicious tiny meat/mint grape leave rolls with yoghurt - other dishes, not so much.  It was the 35 + young school boys who were very excited about their outing.  Think EXCITED.  Then, to compete, the staff turned up the background sound of dervish pipes SO loud that one could fear damage.  We ate quickly and fled.

These pictures are part of the excavation of Catalhoyuk, your basic dawn-of-urban-living neolithic site.  The ancient, 7,400 to 6,000 BCE mound housed up to 8,000 people.  The flat roofed, mudbrick houses were entered by a ladder through the roof.  No 'roads', people traveled over the roof tops.  Perhaps 18 layers of houses as new structures were built on the old.  Interiors with white stucco and paintings, both representational and geometric patterns, similar to weaving.  There were no chimneys or windows so dark and smoky.  Cooking in clay pots by first heating baked clay balls and plunging them in.  Some houses have been found to have 120 layers of white wash - spring cleaning chore?

The going archeology has documented the introduction of pottery within the first 400 years.  Later levels added yoghurt and domestication of cattle.  Folks were running around wearing leopard skins around their waists or at least that is what the paintings show.  Weaving and with no defenses or mass burn traces presumably no war.  A little hunting and gathering / a little farming.  Fish in the marsh next door.  People lived into their fifties, then, after 1400 years everyone went away.

In the distance there are two other massive mounds, both unexplored although indications are they reflect even earlier settlements.  The many steps of the human journey.

Here is a clear night picture of Mevlana's tower.  Dramatic or what.  Taken while walking home from a Saturday evening's Sema - performance of Dervish dancing.  (Actually a structured religious event with special prayers and music to match each step.  The 'whirling' is only a part of the whole.)  The Mevlana's Cultural Centre is a modern auditorium with both interior and exterior circular amptheatres. Each can hold ~ 2800 people.  Two thirds full as many local people as well as Turkish pilgrims out numbered the tourists.  Free.

No pictures allowed but the flashes from cameras and cell photos from the locals were continuous.  So we joined in.