The bus ride to Konya was fairly regular except that the five hour bus encountered a delay of over an hour at a construction site so that was a bit of an inconvenience. We eventually arrived to Konya with little problem and then headed on the train to Mevlana, the historically significant part of town and the tourist part. The tram was packed full of commuters and our packs were so bulky that people had to keep shoving past them to get by. It was easy to be distracted so that when a 12 year old boy with a sweet looking face stroke up a conversation about where we were from and then helpfully insisted that the next stop was Mevlana and that we should get off , we trusted his judgement. Big mistake.
From this point, we still think the boy is right and knows better (even though I had done my research on where to get off) and we trek on. We start to see signs for Mevlana museum so we know we are in the right direction but what we don't know is that we are incredibly far away and it is not remotely walk able, especially with our packs on in the heat. We keep asking directions and try to find a dolmus or taxi (we would have paid anything!) but none ever come. Eventually we stop to buy water at a little shop and an excitable family with absolutely no English words somehow communicates that they would like to help by driving us to Mevlana. I would be wary in other countries but in Turkey this is quite common as it is part of the Muslim faith to help others. They drive us very far, straight into the center but insist upon driving us to expensive hotels like the Hilton. There is no way to communicate and eventually we part ways, feeling rude that we did not accept their generosity graciously and were unable to explain.
At least we were in the Mevlana area but we were in the wrong section for our price range. We then trek on, after nearly two and a half hours of walking with our packs not knowing where we are going and are helped by a nice man who takes us around to budget hotels in our price range. All the hotels are booked as we didn't anticipate a music festival that was going on this week but we eventually found the hotel we originally researched and were happy about that!
As Josh said to me as I was feeling really annoyed, at least we saw a lot of Konya and a more authentic part. Konya is an interesting city that is referred to as the "bible belt" of Turkey and this is somewhat noticeable with more mosques and the dress of the men and woman. We saw tons of little boys playing on the street and biking around, often calling out English words like "hello" as we passed by, then laughing with their friends. We saw groups of elderly Muslim women swathed in fabric going every which direction who sat in a group and giggled to each other as we went by; you can see the youthfulness in their eyes and smiles. I am sure that Konya would be very charming to have a proper visit someday.
Konya is also famous for the whirling dervishes which is a form of dance that involves reciting the Qur'an and symbolizing the shedding of worldly things. I really wanted to catch a performance but because we were so late and could not find the place in time (being exhausted and with no one speaking English) we missed that too! We did get to try one famous dish called etliekmek, basically a Turkish pizza with minced meat and it was delicious and helped take the edge off the day a bit!
We considered staying at least for a few hours to see the Mevlana museum in the morning but I still hadn't recovered sufficiently and I wanted to be sure that we got to Goreme early. Even after a really solid sleep, I couldn't move past this young boy and why he thought to play that trick on us. To him it was probably just a joke to snicker at with his friends, but it essentially made our trip to Konya pointless and I felt really disappointed. I woke up feeling fiery, like no one should mess with me that day and I hate to be so instantly cranky to unsuspecting victims. I took the time on the bus to relax but really only felt better after we reached Goreme and I could put the day behind us.
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