"muizie's new Konya Page" a Konya Travel Page by muizie

Konya is breathing religion. Probably because it has always been a religious center. The museum of the Sufi school, the Tekke de Mevlâna, is the place to see in Konya. And I think it was worth passing there. The visitors are mainly Turks.

We visited the city for exactly five hours. We arrived by bus at the otogar. We left our luggage at the luggage-office. And in the evening we picked up our luggage and left again by bus. It was a good way of seeing what's to see in Konya.

I had the impression that Konya is not fond of foreigners. So the tourist preferably takes care of wearing clothes that cover legs, arms and the woman's head.

A little history.
Nowadays Konya is a lively commercial town in the Anadolu plateau.
In early days, several civilisations, like the Hitits, Frygians, Lydians and Persians, have passed by here as well as Alexander the Great, the Romans and Marco Polo. It was in the roman times that the apostle Paulus visited the town.
In Byzantium times ( 7th – 9th century), Konya was an important Episcopal residence.
In 1071 the Seldjuks took over. Despite several attacks by crusaders and the emperors from Constantinopel (previously Byzantium, Istanbul now a days) the 12th and 13 th century were prosperous. Lots of Karavanserai were build alongside the road to Sivas and Kayseri. These Karavanserai are located about 40 km from each other : the distance a loaded camel can cover in one day. In those days Konya was a famous center of art, science and culture primarily casted in Persian mould.
In the 14th century the Osmans conquered the city, but lost it again to the Mongols led by Dzjengiz Chan. In1466 the Osman sultan Mehmet II, Conqueror of Constantinopel , finally took over. Konya has been a rather conservative religious center ever since.
A very important role in this religious character of the town is played by the Mevlâna Tekke, a sort of monastery founded by Celaleddin Rumi’s eldest son in the 13th century. It also contains the tomb of Celaleddin Rumi,aka Mevlâna.

Pictures in the travelogue.