Tag Archives: Taurus Mountains

TURKIYE #8: KICKING IT IN KONYA & OVERLAND TO ANTALYA

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What I like about transfer days to another destination on our itinerary is that we don’t just hop on the bus and drive for hours at a time. The drive is always broken up with interesting stops along the way and a group lunch at a good restaurant where we get to enjoy local cuisine.

On this day, we traveled across the Taurus Mountains, stopping in the city of Konya, capital of the Konya province and located in central Turkiye. Inhabited since the third millennium BC, it was ruled by several different groups until the 11th century, when the Seljuk Turks conquered the area.

Konya is a bastion of Seljuk culture and home of the Mevlevi order, known as the “whirling dirvishes” due to their famous practice of whirling while performing dhikr (remembrance of God).

We visited the Mevlana Muzesi (museum), which is dedicated to Celaleddin Rumi, the founder of the Mevlevi order and remembered as one of the greatest literary and spiritual figures of all time. More than a million and a half Turks come here to pray each year.

The museum houses the mausoleum of Rumi, and while touring the museum, it became quite evident that the Seljuks were quite wealthy!

(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)

Domed ceiling
World’s smallest Quran
Key purse with pearls, 18th Century
Glass lamp, 15th Century

Following lunch, we continued towards Antalya, stopping late in the afternoon to see the Aspendos Antique Theater, the best-preserved Roman theater of the ancient world. Constructed during the reign of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurlius, between 160-180 AD, it was quite a sight to see all these years later, in 2025!

The theater is still in use, and we were fortunate to be able to get in to see it before closing for the day to tourists.  Our group of sixteen were the only ones in the theater—that is, besides the “Fire of Anatolia” dance group rehearsing for and “Troy,” “a dance show from its native land.”

There are 120 dancers in Fire of Anatolia, and they have performed in more than 85 countries. They hold two Guiness records, one for the fastest dance performance with 241 steps per minute and another for the largest audience—400,000!

A few of us braved the steep climb to the top level of the theater to photograph the architecture, take in the views, watch the rehearsal, and snag a short video clip of it:

Just before sunset, we saw what remained of an ancient aqueduct near the theater.

Although we were scheduled to arrive in Antalya late in the afternoon, we all got so caught up watching the rehearsal and seeing the theater that we didn’t arrive until nighttime. Fortunately, we were still able to grab dinner at the restaurant just before it closed at 9:30 PM!

Next up: TURKIYE #9: ATTRACTIVE ANTALYA

TURKIYE #5: CAPTIVATING CAPPADOCIA

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To get from Istanbul to Cappadocia, our group took a short flight, about one hour and twenty-five minutes.  The flight may have been short, and we may have been traveling from one Turkish location to another; but we arrived at what appeared to be an entirely different planet.

Located on the plateau of the Taurus Mountains, the geology is what made me feel like we had left planet Earth.  Soft volcanic rock of the landscape had eroded into towers, cones, valleys, and caves—all very dramatic and photogenic.

The volcanic rock was the result of three volcanic eruptions over a period of 10,000 years—the last one being in 1854.

Throughout the countryside, there are rock churches and underground tunnel complexes that date back to the Byzantine and Islamic eras.  We stopped to visit Ozkonak, one of these ancient underground cities. 

(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)

These are all photos taken by our tour leader, Nuri:

Although the age of this particular complex is uncertain, it was probably built during the Byzantine era for protection from enemies.  It was discovered in 1972 by a local farmer who was curious about where his excess crop water was disappearing to.  He discovered an underground room, which ultimately revealed a large city that could have housed 60,000 people for up to three months during a siege. Imagine his surprise at that discovery!  The complex contains ten floors, to a depth of 40 meters; however, only four floors are open.

This volcanic granite city is connected by tunnels and contains a pipe communication system reaching each of its levels—a unique feature of this particular complex.  Each carved room had ventilation provided by further piping when the city was sealed during sieges. 

Another unique feature was the holes above the tunnels that were used for dumping hot sand on the enemy.  The complex also has a water well, winery and moving stone doors.

After visiting Ozkonak, we continued our drive to Cappadocia, stopping along the way to see some of the volcanic formations along the roadside:

Misty Cave Hotel, our base for three nights, was the most unusual hotel I had ever seen!  The rooms were built into a volcanic rock hillside and our bathroom was downstairs, underground.  Each room was completely different, so our group enjoyed visiting each other and checking them out. This was something we will never forget!

Although there was a walk-in shower next to the sink (which we used), we got a kick out of this huge room that could be used for a Turkish or American-style bath.

Dinner at the hotel:

Coming up next: TURKIYE #6: BEAUITIFUL BALLOONS, GORGEOUS GOREME & COLORFUL CARPETS