From Cappadocia to Konya

Assalamualaikum, everyone! Welcome back to my blog, back for a new post about my journey in Turkey! Last time I told you about Cappadocia, this time we're about to leave for Konya, but not after visiting its valleys one last time.

Saturday morning, the weather in Cappadocia was clear enough that we could see a bunch of hot air balloons gliding int he sky above us out the window. There were at least 20 of them high in the sky, with colourful patterns and burners blasting through the mouth of the balloons. It was very pretty considering that the sun was about to rise, though we couldn't see it because it was still a bit cloudy. Again, I climbed out the window to capture the beauty. SubhanAllah!

Soon my whole family went out too. Now that the sky is in full view, there seems to be around 40 hot air balloons floating around to witness the sunrise. After watching them all settle at the other side of the hills, we headed to the breakfast buffet. It was exceptionally called ever since the night before, and since we were one of the first ones to enter the dining, the heater was not ready yet, so we ate in the cold.

After that we started packing to go to Konya. Konya wasn't in the initial itinerary but after watching a travelogue about Konya and the dance it's famous for, the Sema, my parents decided to stop there for a night, especially since the Sema is only performed on Saturdays, 7pm. However, instead of going straight to Konya, we decided to stop at a few places to capture amazing views.

At around 11 am, we set out. We stopped at a valley close to the Goreme Open Air Museum. At first glance, there was a clearing where they were inflating a hot air balloon, presumably for fliers in the late morning. There were also horses in another clearing surrounded with a fence - horse riding activities are promoted here. There were also barks of dogs running around playing with the horses or climbing the hills. We parked at a clearing where a few other cars parked on the ice from yesterday's snow. Yep, the rocks and hills were cloaked in snow, though harder now.

We climbed the hills a bit before meeting a Malaysian couple! They told us there was a valley worth seeing at the top of the hill and discussed their travels with my parents (while some dogs ran around us, which made me kind of on edge). After saying our goodbyes, we started hiking up the rest of the hill, careful of the ice and snow. Not all of us have shoes equipped for snow, so we naturally slipped a bit.

All that climbing was worth it when we reached the top. The valley was vast and beautiful! There were those shapes formed from the earth, the pointy tent-like ones, I don't know what they're called, but they looked spectacular snow-capped! We didn't have much space to move left - either go down one way or the other. So, after taking memorable pictures of the landscape, we skidded back down, this time more challenging. Not long after, we were back in our car.

Our next stop was the Uchisar Castle. It seemed to have been snowing prior to our arrival because the snow there was still soft. We didn't go in the castle, just took pictures outside it because we wanted to arrive on time in Konya. We also played a bit with the snow.

Soon we were back on our way to Konya, this time not stopping anywhere. Three hours later we arrived at our hotel, which was practically right next to the auditorium where the Sema takes place. It was only 2pm when we arrived, so we prayed first and then went out to seek information about tonight's ceremony at the auditorium and search for our overdue lunch. Instead of taking the car, we walked to the culture centre right across the road.

The Konya Culture Centre was huge - after all, Konya is known for its arts and culture. The town was based on the idea of Sufism, including the Sema ceremony itself - it was created to symbolise the journey of finding oneself and closeness to Allah. The officers at the centre said to enter block H at 6pm and above, only then can we get our tickets. Now we have about two hours to find somewhere to eat and come back for the ceremony.

The town was misty and cold, and before I could read too much into it, snowflakes started to fall lightly on my skin. It seemed like the snow followed us here. It was very light snow so it didn't bother us much, thus we continued walking across town, passing tram tracks, and an arts museum. We entered Konya's Mevlana Museum, though we only passed it briefly, taking pictures and reading a bit of the history. The admission was free, so we didn't feel too bad about going through it quickly.

I suppose we were in the town square by now, because it got much busier than the calm aura around our hotel. Eventually we found a place to eat called Sufi Kebab. It served delicious juicy beef in a dish called Firin Kebab, which we shared among four people. I had to order seconds! Kudos to the chefs.

By the time we finished, it was around quarter past five and we headed back to the culture centre. We were 15 minutes early when we arrived, so my parents chatted with an Indian family who were also lining up for tickets. They talked about their travels and we couldn't that they took about the same route as us, contrary to the families we met prior.

After buying the tickets we waited for while longer and the doors to the auditorium were opened. We found seats in sector B, my dad and Yusuf third row form the front and my mom and I two rows behind them. It was still a quarter to 7 so we had 15 minutes to wait. The room was surrounded by seats like an amphitheatre, circling a stage where the Sema performers will be. There was also a higher stage further in the corner with instrument where they would play the traditional music for the ceremony. At a few minutes past 7, the lights started to dim.

For a whole hour, we witnessed the grace and elegance before us, of over 20 men of all ages, even young ones, about 12 in age or younger. They bowed and started to take off their black coats, revealing a white robe with a flowing skirt, which highlights the most memorable part of the ceremony - the whirling dance. One by one, the performers started to twirl around the stage, spinning with their arms stretched above them, feeling the music and focusing on their whirling. They whirled for about 5 minutes nonstop! Even I got dizzy watching them, but when they halted, they didn't stagger or fall. They continued on and repeated the whirling dance for a few more times! It was truly mesmerising. You can't take your eyes off them!

The whole performance felt unreal. After the ceremony, we tried spinning ourselves, but we couldn't even get past the third spin without feeling dizzy, so we gave up. Back in the hotel, we had instant noodles for dinner and I wrote A post for the blog before going to sleep.

Hope you enjoyed this post! Stay tuned for tomorrow!