BajaBlanca - 6-23-2021 at 12:28 PM
I am going to start a new thread since we are now in Konya, the land of Rumi.
Here is what I found on the internet.
Dancers focus on dhikr (devotional prayer) while whirling to music with their arms outstretched. One hand is turned to the sky to receive God’s
beneficence, the other is turned downwards, transferring God’s gift to the earth.
The dancers’ conical, camel-hair hats (a sikke) represent the tombstone of the ego and their dresses a shroud around it.
Konya is very conservative and most definitely not geared towards foreigners but towards the Turkish worshipers that come here.
Besides the many mosques which I adore, there is not much going on here. Tomorrow we see the dancers and then move on to Cappadocia.
From Blanca:
David K - 6-23-2021 at 02:48 PM
In Konya to see the whirling dervishes...got magnets for our fridge!
From Blanca today (emails II & III)
David K - 6-23-2021 at 02:56 PM
All of these are from the Sultan Selim Camii. Exquisite artwork. It is wonderful that as long as you take your shoes off, women are allowed in!
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These photos are from the free Mevlana museum. To get in, one puts plastic over your shoes. Such a waste of plastic but I think they are concerned
about too many shoes left unattended? Not sure, but you keep your shoes on for this museum.
photo 1 is our covered shoes and the rest are just some of the many I took inside. Spectacular clothes, burial boxes and ancient gilded korans! We
saw zero foreigners.
Here is what I found on wiki:
The Mevlâna Museum (Turkish: Mevlânâ Müzesi), located in Konya, Turkey, is the mausoleum of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, a Persian Sufi mystic. It
was also the dervish lodge (tekke) of the Mevlevi order, better known as the whirling dervishes.
Sultan 'Ala' al-Din Kayqubad, the Seljuk sultan who had invited Mevlâna to Konya, offered his rose garden as a fitting place to bury Rumi's father,
Baha' ud-Din Walad (also written as Bahaeddin Veled), when he died on 12 January 1231. When Mevlâna died on 17 December 1273 he was buried next to
his father.
Mevlâna's successor Hüsamettin Çelebi decided to build a mausoleum (Kubbe-i-Hadra) over the grave of his master. The Seljuk construction, under
architect Badr al-Din Tabrizi,[1] was finished in 1274. Gurju Khatun, the wife of the Seljuk Emir Suleiman Pervâne, and Emir Alameddin Kayser funded
the construction. The cylindrical drum of the dome originally rested on four pillars. The conical dome is covered with turquoise faience.
ENJOY! and thanks David.
BajaBlanca - 6-25-2021 at 01:16 AM
We were not able to see the whirling dervishes after all due to covid cancellations but innocent us went to the door at 8 am, 9 am and eventually at
10 am figured out that although 20 people gave conflicting updates (yes, today at 9, yes today at 6 pm, not today, only on Fridays LOL), we left
Konya for Cappadocia. Another bizarre story that I will start another thread for.
We are living the dream. This is so far an A+ trip. My one and only beef is that i cannot post photos because every day is filled with MANY
experiences!
What I have oticed:
chai is drunk all day long
light switches are outside all rooms
most restaurants do not serve alcohol at all, best to ask first
everyone speaks some English, and the youngsters love to practice
middle eastern food is delicious in its many forms
breakfasts are so different from ours: tomatoes, olives, 4 different cheeses, bread rolls and cake is the norm
Turkish coffee is right up my alley - so strong and served in timy coffee cups just like we drink in Brazil
Turkish flags everywhere - flown in almost every establishment and from houses
clothes are dried outside windows - similar to Italy
more later!
TMW - 6-25-2021 at 09:18 PM
Excellent, thanks
BajaBlanca - 6-27-2021 at 12:02 AM
other interesting thoughts
stores always give you a little gift for free for shopping with them
water fountains, small mostly, everywhere so people fill up their bottles for free. Tap water cannot be drunk, methinks.
drivers are crazy. on a par with Italians and Brazilians
the beaches here are amazingly nice, the sand is soft. That was not the case in Greece or other countries around it two years ago.
cheap clothes here and i mean really, really inexpensive
SFandH - 6-27-2021 at 05:30 AM
The indoor photo with the reddish floor and large gray circular design in the middle - is that a carpet?
Important info - What does a beer cost in a restaurant?? 
Is the food spicy? Chilis?
[Edited on 6-27-2021 by SFandH]
BajaBlanca - 6-27-2021 at 07:53 PM
Food is not spicy but they have a chili sauce that sometimes can be. Just a hint of heat and I really like it.
Beer is $3 in a restaurant and it is half a liter - big can. A six pack in a store is 70 Turkish lira so $8 dollars.
The photo with the gray circular design is indeed a massive carpet. Here, those Persian style carpets are used as doormats, hall runners. Hung out
to be in the sun from apartment patios. Absolutely everywhere. I understand each region has its own colors and typical design.