Where the dervishi is spinning
The shortest path from the Mediterranean Sea to Cappadocia, where tourists are striving to see fantastic tuffs and rocky temples of the first Christians, lies through a horse – the most ancient inhabited cities in Turkey. Konya is known for monuments of early Turkish-Islamic architecture, beautiful grots in the vicinity of the city and, of course, the festival of circling dervish. Drive to Konew more convenient from Antalya – just 270-280 km. Tourist groups overcome this distance by bus, individuals – by car. Another option is to go from Ankara or Istanbul by plane or spend 13 hours on a trip in the comfortable night train MERAM EKSPRESI. Being a well-known tourist and religious center, Konya, however, can not boast enough hotels, so book the room is better in advance. You can stay as in 3 * hotels "Sem" (in its restaurant there are always delicious and cheap kebabs) or "Bialchilar" (accommodation from $ 40) and 5 * "Hilton". The most economical option for those at the disposal one day is to leave things in the storage chamber on the bus station, to get to Dolmoshe to the city and go to inspect local attractions.
And see really there is something. Konya, or, as it was then called, Iconium, was a prosperous city in the days of Alexander Macedonsky (IV century BC.NS.), and in the XII century, the Saljuk sultans made it the capital of their state. Strong flourishing Konya reached in the XIII century. From those times in the city there are several interesting buildings. One of them is the Madrasa Aladdin, erected in 1221, with the tips of the Seljuk sultans and their relatives. Nearby is the building of the former Karatay mosque (1251 g.), where the Museum of Fayans and Ceramics is now located, and the Mosque of Indgent Mina-Ree (1265-1267) with a high minaret, given under the Wooden and Stone Museum. In the Archaeological Museum, the main part of the collection is sculptures and ceramic products of the Roman era. The pride of the museum is a large sarcophagus from Sidamara (Roman era, III century BC.NS.) depicting the twelve feats of Hercules. Museums work in Konier even on Mondays (up to three o’clock in the afternoon), ticket prices – $ 8-10.
The most important attraction of the city, of course, the monastery of Mevlana, where in the Middle Ages, the dervish orders of Mevlevi made their mystical rituals.
When in 1925, Ataturk banned religious orders, the monastery was turned into a museum. Today it is a sacred place for Muslims who come here to worship Garage Jalaleddine Rumi (1207-1273), an outstanding Islamic religious figure, a poet, a philosopher nicknamed by Turks Mevlana (translated from Arabic – "Our gentleman"), named, gave the name Order. This museum also stores the items of Dervicheski, an exhibition of expensive carpets is open.
In school, at the Dervish monastery, the teachings of Rui are fastened, at the heart of which tolerance and love for God, faith in the fact that the Almighty can be approached through mystical love and ascetic lifestyle and that the connection with it can be established through the dance created simultaneously with the Universe.
In the evening of every Monday, Dervishi make a ritual dance circle in the monastery, called seed. Dressed in wide white skirts and red cone-shaped dervish hats begin to slowly rotate around their axis on the right left with folded hands. At the same time they move and in a circle.The tempo is growing, and the hands are revealed. Right, getting ready to take divine energy, moves up, left – down. Reaching the climax of rotation, dervish slow down the pace, as if returning to people already with a new, clarified consciousness and carrying them, regardless of which they are faith, races and estates.
Nowadays, sem went beyond the framework of the religious mystical ritual, and many dervishi perform this dance and outside the monastery, in restaurants and clubs (for a specific fee). And at the end of December, the festival of circling dervishes passes in Kosier, on which thousands of tourists and pilgrims come from around the world to enjoy this magnificent spectacle, no one no indifferent. Places to the festival can be booked through the tourist office.
In the vicinity of the city, too, there are very curious and useful places for the tourist. If you go from Konya on the way to Afion, then after 70-80 km, the traveler’s eyes will open a Tinaztepe cave, formed about 230 million years ago. This place attracts visitors with numerous waterfalls, grottoes and small natural pools with thermal waters, the temperature of which is plus 36-37 degrees Celsius. Swimming in sources helps to charge the healing energy of nature and useful for a sick asthma. At about the same distance from Konya, but on the way to the West, there is an amazing lake Baisehir with numerous islands. Tourists come here to admire landscapes and amazing sunset.
Information tourist office Konya: Mevlana Cad. 21. Tel.: (0302) 3511074
Opening hours: Mon-Fri, 8.00-17.thirty
