INTRODUCTION
Konya trip was a tremendous experience for all of the people who visited Konya with us in 29th October. It was my first time visiting Konya. Except Samsun, Eskişehir and Ankara I even haven’t been in the Middle Eastern part of Turkey. That’s why I was pretty excited to been there and breath the air full of Ottomans, Seljuks and Mevlana, besides the expected cold weather.
THE VOYAGE
After preparing the luggage with the winter clothes and the maket tools, I was ready for the voyage. Finally, previous Thursday morning after two hours of waiting for the people who continued to sleep, we started the trip. It was about 8 o’clock and time reached 10 until we could get out of the boundaries of Istanbul. Even though the traffic jam and the lost hours, the voyage was full of fun and there were a lot of things that caught our eyes. After passing Istanbul boundaries, the bus went near Ankara and reached the Middle Anatolia via passing through the tunnel of Bolu. It was my second time passing the tunnel, but still it was very interesting. Maybe being an architecture student this time created that effect. It was pretty long and very useful when climbing the high mountain is considered.
As the bus continued its way, lots of interesting details were appearing to me. The plant types were constantly changing. Especially after Ankara the number of trees decreased and we have seen lots of areas which were lack of trees. And the new plant type was steppe which was small, short plants rather than the tall trees. Furthermore, different than the Aegean district in which I used to live the agriculture areas were mostly being planted by the farmers and the roads were wide maybe due to the lack of trees.
The decrease in the number of cars was another change which caught my attention. There were not a sudden decrease before Ankara, however as we get close to our terminal station the number of the vehicles were much less than Istanbul-Ankara way.
The climate difference which made all of us afraid showed its cold face to us even during the bus voyage. Actually, the time-outs that we had in each two hours gave us a chance to compare the weather’s state and to notice that we were in the cold Middle Anatolia not in warm Marmara anymore.
With the delays, the time outs and the long ways that never ends after 11-12 hours we finally reach Konya and went directly to Baykara Hotel which was our workshop for next four days.
VOYAGE TO THE HISTORY, CATALHOYUK
Çatalhöyük tour was our first trip in Konya. After a two hour of a bus journey, we reached there and our journey to the history started. We firstly see a copy of a Catalhöyük house which directly caught our attention. Then, we visited the museum and saw interesting relics of Catalhöyük people. The painted walls were really amazing. After that we saw the excavated area.
THE MOST DELICIOUS EVENTS
One of the most delicious events of our trip was one of our friends’ who was from Konya gift for us. His family prepared a traditional combination of food, soup, meat with rice, bamya and helva. That was their wedding’s and sunnet’s ceremonies menu and it was a great and delicious experience for all of us especially for the ones who were born in Istanbul and don’t know the Anatolian food traditions.
Etli ekmek was the other delicious food that we had a chance to taste and as of the trip, it is one of my favorite foods. It was my second time having a piece of etli ekmek, but the real Konya etli ekmek was so different than the other. It was like a kıymalı pide which was with more cooked dough and one and a half meter long. Nobody could stop me to eat three meter of etli ekmek even though I was not hungry at all.
MEVLANA MUSEUM (GREEN MOUSELLUM)
When the word Konya is heard, surely Mevlana is the first thing to come to the minds. It would be so weird, if we would leave Konya without spending plenty of a time in Mevlana museum. Mevlana Museum was opened in 1926. Before 1926, there was a building that hosted the Mevlevi people to gather together. After the death of Mevlana (Mevlana calls it the wedding, since it is the day to return to the God.) a turbe, special grave was built there and it was protected very well by the Mevlevi philosophy’s followers.
Before you get in the museum, you need to walk through a door which looks very historical and proper for the museum. Then, you walk through a way cover by colorful flowers just before breathing the history filled air. This way drives you to an area which is protected by another set of walls. When you pass those walls via walking under a door, a bunch of tombstone welcomes you. Those are historical stones which hold lots of holy writing on themselves. Then, you go to the front door of the museum. A şadırvan, mosque fountain, meets you. It is a big one which we see in front of big mosques. Finally, you see the museum and get in there. Three rooms take you inside and you find yourselves investigating everything you see. There you breathe different air. The lamps, holy writings, historic Qur’ans, the türbe, special grave, of Mevlana, the other türbes and even the windows and the walls catch to your eyes.
Being there and feeling a great philosopher’s effects on myself were interesting experience for me. I guess his ideas will always go on affecting me especially the ones; one hand facing up (taking from the God), one hand facing down (giving to the people) and “Come whatever you are even though you are the worst.”
A WEIRD TRIP TO A CEMETERY
After visiting Mevlana Museum, we went to a cemetery, Üçler Mezarlığı which was located opposite of the museum. We wandered around the cemetery and drew some tombstones and the cemetery roads. It was a different, weird and scary trip.
OTHER TRIPS IN KONYA CITY
In Konya other than Mevlana Museum, we visited lots of things. We wandered around the small roads, observed Konya people. Especially, the children were interested in our group. Lots of my friends took a lot of photos of them. Actually, nothing much was interesting about their lives, since even in Istanbul there are lots of people living with similar life conditions.
Furthermore, we visited Aladdin Hill. It is the first stacking hill in the world. It was in the middle of the city and there were a tunnel left from Seljuks, Alleaddin Keykubat Mosque, historical fountains, türbes etc.
At the west part of Aladdin Hill, Ince Minareli Medrese was also visited by us. It was really a visit with full of history. It was built in 2.Izzettin Keykavus time in 1264 to be used for the hadis lessons. Its “taçkapı” and the cylinder shaped minaret were two of the first things to catch our attentions. They were decorated from bottom part to the up with interesting figures like holy writings; shaded, colored areas, and carved designs. It was built via using mostly stones and shows us the stone carving art of Seljuks. There also the symbols of Seljuks, angel and two headed eagle figures were able to be seen.
Similarly, we visited some mosques like Selimiye Mosque which were left by Seljuks and Ottomans. And they mostly include a “taç kapı” in their front walls.
SILLE VILLAGE
Sille village was one of the most interesting places I have ever been. In the first view it looks like a normal village. However, when you go on walking into the village, you see tremendous things there. One, there was small stream with its beauty and it was so good to watch and try to draw its details. Second, villagers were so hospital that they took us in their houses and feed us with their so beautiful, delicious food. And third, one face of mountain which was full of small caves… Those caves were used for grain bin for the villagers. That piece of art of the nature was really amazing and deserves to be seen. And I think it was more amazing than the peribacaları which are really interesting. More interestingly, one of those caves was used for a mosque. It really amazed me and I recommend everyone to see the most interesting mosque at least once.
SALT LAKE (TUZ GÖLÜ)
Salt lake trip was the last but not the least enjoyable part of Konya trip. When it was our last hours in Mevlana city, we prepared our languages and got ready for the return. Nevertheless, there was one more surprise left for us. It was the white white white salt lake that was located just near Ankara. Everywhere was covered with white as if it was winter and there was snow on the every centimeter square of the ground. There was the lake when the white ground ends and the sun were also shining over us besides the low temperature. I was in a shocked state, maybe because it was my first time being there. Our task was to create a movie that can take us into a time meter and show a 35 second period. Each of us had different ideas, completed the mission and continued the return.
My movie was about a couple who run towards each other and meet at the middle. The shadows were my tool to create a romantic mood. I started with one of the couple who sat on the white ground. Then, the second part was recorded which was the standing up of him. I went on with his slow walk toward his lover until they meet. And finally, as expected in the end they met at the middle and made up one single shadow together.
SOURCES
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