A day in Konya

Konya, s short bus trip away. Decided the most relaxing way to see Konya was by taking the local No. 64 bus
A challenge to get the pre paid tickets but David managed.

Lyn suffering a bit of travel tummy so decided the best option to stay back at hotel to rest. So the 3 of us set off to explore downtown Konya. A big busy city of over a million people, very strong Islamic influence, most women with head covering. We decided we would see the Mevlana museum. Mevlana Celaeddin a very important poet and philosopher to the Islamic faith. Born in 1207 he moved to Konya with his father, who was also his first teacher. He died in Konya in 1273 and is buried here.

looking towards the Mevlana museum, mausoleum

Gorgeous ceilings







blue plastic shoe covers supplied to cover shoes before walking in, scarves for women also supplied if you didn't have the appropriate covering

Knud and David in the grounds of museum

Sille

What a little gem Sille is.
Sille was called Sylata and Sylla in ancient times. Off the beaten track for Europeans, but certainly a hit with the Turks. This town started it history 8 centuries BC, an exciting and varied history, far too involved to go into here. Still has a village atmosphere hard to guess the population few thousand maybe. There has been a huge restoration programme with some of the local churches, now converted to cultural houses , museums etc.


Ceiling of Ava Ellena museum was once a Greek Coptic church. Used as a medical centre in WW1 restored a few years ago.



outside

very old cemetery next to the Milk Church. Women used to go to this church to pray if they were having problems with breast feeding. Now restored and used as a clock and calendar museum.

little square opposite hotel, very popular photo stop for bridal parties.

Göreme to Sille

Time to leave the land of fairy chimneys and hot air balloons. Hire car booked for 2 weeks so off we set. Heading in a westerly direction we drove for an hour and half, landscape changing dramatically. Our first stop was Ihlara Gorge




A mere 400 quad crunching steps to the bottom, then back up again, oh must get back to the gym. Some interesting churches in caves, one with beautifully preserved painting on roof.



We continued driving for another few hours,passing flat, arid country. With Davids expert navigation and Knuds great driving we skirted round Konya and on to Sille about 10 km to the north, found our hotel and met our gorgeous hosts.



View from our bedroom window

Hotel in Göreme

Well dear readers at last the blog is sorted. Have done about 4 blogs but all lost.
So a quick photo recap on our great hotel in Göreme. Sultan Caves.
The common and dining areas





Our bedroom

Test 4

Will this ever work

Cooking Class

Love the Turkish food so as keen cooks and enjoyer's of good food Lyn and I very keen to do a cooking class, David and Knud keen too to join in the fun. Spoke to a local travel agent, Woop Woop Travel ,and yes he had an uncle in Australia. We really wanted to do something in town, not travel too far as we will have enough days in cars in the weeks coming. So he rang to his cousin and arranged for us to go to his house, cousin had never held a cookery class but he was a chef and could speak some English
10am we were picked up and driven to the family home.
Waiting outside while things got organised

We were to make stuffed vine leaves, a soup and a desert. This is the stuffing for the vine leaves. We made this with Mohs mum Gosha and her friend Hadja, spelling is no doubt way off but you get the idea.

And so the fun commenced, a tad stiff after sitting on the floor for a while, don't know how they do it.







Stuffing finished, now time to cook them.

We all ate lunch together.

Mohs and his Taiwanese partner Inny

Gosha and Hadja

A lovely few hours spent with this family who opened their house and hearts to us. I'm now on the lookout for anyone who has grape vines so I can get a supply of grape leaves.

Postcards from Göreme

Turkish Coffee break

Can't get tired of crazy rock formations. Once a very volcanic area.

Spices the markets

Bit of an oops moment, not our car I hasten to tell you.

Pumpkins that have been grown specifically for their seeds. Pumpkins cut in half, seeds removed then rest of pumpkin left to rot.

Can't resist an early morning balloon photo opportunity