I t is the cardio away from Poultry. Konya, a neighbor hood of so many souls, squatting smack in the center of Anatolia’s nuts basic, in the middle of unlock, limitless prairie. Turkey’s extremely culturally conservative city, Konya appears in the beginning is a location regarding tight headscarves and you may foreboding beards, out-of ostentatiously seen pieties and you will forbidden drinks. However, uncovering Konya Send e -post til Kinesisk kvinner is straightforward – for right here, in the centre of your dated city, in the tomb off turquoise tiles, is actually Jelaluddin Rumi.
Rumi is just one of the world’s most read poets. Through the their lifestyle, and because their demise within the 1273, pilgrims attended so you can Konya. Now, Rumi’s tomb try Turkey’s second most-went to guests appeal following the Topkapi Castle inside the Istanbul. His supporters perform (nevertheless create) clean out on their own inside trance and you can dance, often rotating particularly tops day long.
These types of spinning dervishes are now actually the fresh new symbol of Turkey’s tourism tricks, and you will drink tea in your Istanbul resort lobby watching certain terrible bloke from inside the a large beige sensed hat spinning to possess their entertainment. To your real thing, though, become heree to Konya therefore arrived at Turkey’s heart. In the Rumi’s terms and conditions:
There’s a large, impressive new municipal auditorium in which it sensitive whirling peoples dancing is performed, and you can any quantity of pleasant shiny-eyed mystics in the carpeting storage, cafes and gothic bazaars, the happy to help you ask one to an exclusive zikhr
“Anybody who you happen to be, started Even if you could be An infidel, an effective pagan, or a good fireworshipper, become Our very own brotherhood isn’t among despair you have broken Your vows off repentance one hundred times, started.”
Almost every 12 months because 1983, I have been future for the two billion-or-so tourist exactly who go to Konya per year. Some are Turkish, although many Iranians (which claim Rumi as their individual, just like the the guy authored inside their words and you can was born in east Persia) as well as improve pilgrimage.
Rather than and make Konya a halt with the a bus concert tour, I suggest existence for some months, taking in the feeling, food several of Turkey’s most readily useful lamb, watching the top Seljuk tissues and you may – possibly – falling crazy about Rumi. You could potentially travel in inexpensively regarding Istanbul, from which there is also a beneficial scruffy, atmospheric show, otherwise are available by-road. Konya is within effortless arrived at of one’s cave dwellers and carpeting providers out of Cappadocia.
Rumi showed up here just like the an excellent son, whenever Konya had become a community for two,000 ages. It absolutely was based by the Hittites, have been succeeded because of the Phrygians, then the Lydians, Persians, Cappadocians, brand new kings regarding Pergamon therefore the Romans, who known as lay Iconium. Saints Paul and you will Barnabus one another preached here, however, by 1071 the new Seljuks, good Turcoman tribe, have been in charge, as well as their architectural legacy suffers.
The Karatay Medrese of 1251 are a masterpiece out of ornate tiling and you will good domes. It’s now the brand new Art gallery off Tiles and you will Ceramics, whose content maintain the vibrancy and you will strike they’d whenever first fired. Close by, the latest Ince Minarali Medrese has become new Art gallery regarding Brick and you may Wood Sculpture, which can be a lot less dry than just I’ve made it voice. Both of these structures whet your appetite to discover the ornately tiled Sircali Medrese, together with brilliant Sahip Ata mosque: rather than the majority of the new Muslim community, for the Poultry you’re motivated to visit mosques, any type of your own religious tastes.
At the junction of your own dated city and its own unappealing new neighbor ‘s the Alaaddin mosque, the new city’s vantage part, whose breathtaking black pulpit and you may sensitive prayer-market come from 1155 (the fresh new complex is finished in 1221). The boulevard radiating from here brings that Rumi’s tomb, where a great deal more later. Rumi may Turks once the Mevlana (the latest Sainted One), and after this Konya is actually thrall in order to Mevlanamania.
Rumi is a mystic, an excellent Sufi saint just who adored all religions, and you can whoever own religion are love
Once i very first came, Mevlana’s supporters, brand new Mevlevi, was basically a prohibited organisation, accepted only for the “folkloric dancing” and you can whirlings. Meetings occurred covertly, illegally.
I mentioned eating, as well. Konya’s lamb-centric cooking is excellent. Etli ekmek is actually a lengthy, slim move-upwards pizza pie give having delicately spiced mince, and you can Konya kebab is a lamb shank, extremely more sluggish roasted and you may offered with the a cushion away from money having a sweet reddish onion. The most effective was at Konak (Restoran, Akcesme mah. Piriesat Cad. Zero 5, +ninety 332 352 85 47), whose soups and you may handmade natural yogurt was heaven-made.
Hence, splendidly provided, and with of many cups of nice tannic tea inside you, help make your cure for Rumi’s tomb. Your get in on the awestruck, the new interested plus the fervent. A mysterious twinkly light performs to the tombs out-of Rumi and you can his followers. The latest structure is actually embroidered which have calligraphy, and the ceilings is an excellent kaleidoscope of beautifully performed arabesques. Rumi’s tomb is included in significantly embroidered material out of gold, and you will seems to radiate white and serenity and you will mercy.
The your own fellow pilgrims tend to realize Korans, while others Rumi’s poetry. Really get photographs, although this is strictly forbidden. You’ll find people that weep silently, and those who laugh aloud; individuals who reflect for hours on end, and those who hurry by way of. Are common gone, to have here is love.
Playing on the side and insinuating in itself into the understanding ‘s the ney, a reed flute. It sounds like breathy air, but is truly the sound out-of flame, and this goes up and you will falls into the us. That isn’t some sullen religious worrying, but the sound out of yearning, away from communion, of your center. You’ve got they – it’s spirit sounds, plus it most supplies you with. Very already been.
Turkish Airlines (020-7471 6666) flies so you’re able to Konya through Istanbul out-of Heathrow, Stansted, Birmingham and you will Manchester, of ?219 rtn inc fees. Istanbul to Konya of the train will cost you from all over ?24 return, or about ?36 come back by the shuttle. Resort Balikcilar have bed room or about ?70 (while having serves cold drinks). Lodge Dergah (+90 332 351 76 61) rooms as much as ?20. Passes observe the latest spinning dervishes are without the traffic place of work, trailing Mevlana’s tomb. Mete Horzum during the SeleneTour (+90 532 564 9192, ) organizes individual spinning and you will zikhr out-of ?30pp.