After three wonderful days in the magical land of Cappadocia, we set out on a day-long drive southwest to the city of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast. At first, the flat landscape looked dry and colorless but Ulaş told us that the soil was very fertile. We gazed out at sugar beet and alfalfa fields and noticed tents belonging to migrant workers. These workers are mostly Kurdish, from southeast Turkey, where the majority of the country’s 15 million Kurds live.
Our route followed the old Silk Road, and when we made a brief rest stop in the town of Sultanhani, we found ourselves across from a caravanserai that once provided lodging for traders and their merchandise laden camels.
It was late morning when we reached our next stopping place, the city of Konya. Konya is a large city, with a population of 1,600,000. According to Ulaş, it is one of the most religious and conservative cities in Turkey. Konya draws visitors from around the world because of its association with Rumi, the 13th century Persian mystic, poet, teacher, and Islamic philosopher. Rumi came from a family of mystics and spent his early years in greater Persia, where Sufism was already well established. He came to Anatolia at the invitation of the Seljuk Sultan when the Mongols invaded Persia. The Sultan built a monastery for training Sufi monks in the city of Konya, the Seljuk capital in central Turkey. Training at the monastery was very rigorous. For example, prospective monks were required to complete 1001 days of “suffering.” The Mevlevi Order of Sufism (aka the Order of Whirling Dervishes) was founded in Konya by Rumi’s followers after his death in 1273.
We immediately went to see the lavishly decorated shrine containing the tombs of Rumi and other important Sufi figures. Since it was Friday when we visited, the shrine was especially crowded.
Several old illuminated Qurans and poetry books were on display in a small adjoining mosque.
There were also model rooms set up to show scenes of dervishes going about their daily activities.
In the Mevlâna Museum, housed in the former Sufi monastery, we learned quite a bit about the training and practices of the dervishes. The exhibits, along with descriptions in English as well as Turkish, were very informative. I wondered why the monastery was no longer operational, given the great interest in Rumi and Sufism. In answer to my unspoken question, Ulaş reminded us that there are no more monasteries or madrassas (religious training schools) in Turkey because of the secular nature of the republic.
Afterwards, we walked a short distance to a 200-year old restaurant which specialized in Anatolian cuisine. Our lunch included a very tasty dried okra soup, salad, pide (Turkish bread) with a meat topping, a dish of fried beef with vegetables and rice, and for dessert, a simple halva made of only two ingredients, flour and butter. The restaurant is also known for its many varieties of pickles.
As we continued traveling southwest after lunch, the land became hillier and greener. Winding roads led us through the Taurus Mountains that separate the central Anatolian plateau from the Mediterranean coastal region. Cedars grew on the mountain slopes at higher elevations while red and yellow pines covered the hills at lower elevations.
Descending towards the sea, we passed groves of apricot and olive trees and greenhouses where bananas were grown. Residential areas appeared, surrounded by palm trees, orange trees, and pomegranate trees. It truly was starting to look like the Mediterranean that I remembered!
Late in the afternoon, we stopped once again, this time to visit the archaeological site of Aspendos, about 10 miles inland from the coast on a formerly navigable river. The ancient city dates back to the 6th century BCE. The Romans took over the city in 190 BCE. Several structures survive from ancient times. The most important is the large marble theater, which is the best preserved Greco-Roman theater in the world. (It’s considered Greco-Roman since it was built by Romans but shares many characteristics with Greek theaters.) The theater was designed by the Greek architect Zenon, a native of Aspendos, and built during the reign of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in the 2ndcentury CE. Originally, several marble statues stood at the back of the two-story stage. These are now in Antalya’s museum. A statue of Dionysus, god of the theater, remains in place. The theater has excellent acoustics and is still in use today for concerts, operas, and music and dance festivals.
Finally, around 7pm, we reached our destination, the city of Antalya. Since our big bus couldn’t drive into the Old Town, where our hotel was located, we made our way on foot through the narrow streets. The banners overhead reminded us that the country would soon be celebrating the centennial of the establishment of the Turkish republic. The image of Ataturk, founder of the republic, was everywhere.
Within minutes of our arrival, we sat down to dinner. One new appetizer that I enjoyed was a vegetarian version of çiğ köfte. They looked like raw meatballs but were actually made of bulgur, nuts, olive oil, tomato paste, and spices. In the photo below, they're on the far left.
I’ll tell you about this lovely city on the Mediterranean coast in my next post.
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