Turkey Trip - Day 5: On our way to Konya

Early morning breakfast at the hotel before we left to get a comfortable Kamil Kac bus to Konya. This daylong trip was the best way to get to Konya, the home of the “whirling dervishes,” i.e., the Sufi sect of Islam that is considered a living heritage in Turkey. Our bus tickets included seat assignments and several stops along the way to pick up more passengers. One stop had the driver escorting me to the restroom, waiting for me, then escorting me back to the correct bus.

The mountain scenery and fields of wheat and barley were mesmerizing, but I did get in some reading of The Hunger Games on my Kindle as well as a nap. At one stop I wrote that we apparently feasted on an onion snack, sesame balls, almonds, cherry juice and chocolate. At the 30-minute stop at Anhara, the bus driver asked for my email address even tho' he couldn't speak English, and he gave me his. Oh my!

We arrived in Konya about 8:30 pm, but the local taxi driver couldn't find our recently renovated Hotel Dervis. Our Azerbaijani didn't work so well, but we finally arrived at the hotel which was a large home recently restored into a delightful hotel. The younger brother of the owner drove us in his pick-up truck to a restaurant that was still open. In its large outdoor garden, there were two long tables nearby of about 20 men eating. It was Friday after mosque. We seemed a bit of curiosity to them. After a dinner of lamb and vegetables, we somehow found our way back to Hotel Dervis walking in the dark. Feeling very safe.