Day 36 - Nigde to Konya

 Our day commenced with our host family driving us to the home of an 80 year old furniture magnate for a breakfast with his family and also all the other Gulen inspired families from the previous night's school function. This proved to be another interesting gathering of like minded individuals who are linked through their following the ideas of Fethullah Gulen with the 80 year old giving us a brief rundown of his life and how he came to meet Fethullah Gulen and become his friend. Once again gifts were exchanged at the end and we were on our way again, this time to Konya, a city in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. Pushed for time we skipped lunch and went straight to visit the Chief Commissioner of Police for Konya, arranged, I suspect, primarily for the benefit of the senior policeman in our group. After an hour of pleasantries, cups of tea and biscuits, gift exchanges and obligatory photographs we were on our way again, this time to the tomb of Jalal Rumi the 13th century Persian poet and Sufi mystic. Spent perhaps an hour here examining the artifacts and artworks before heading off to our hotel. For dinner we had another family dinner to attend, this time at the apartment of a major textile manufacturer and his wife. Dinner was served seated on the floor and once again was a delicious Turkish meal. Again the exchange of gifts and photographs ended what was a pleasant evening with our hosts. From here we headed to a concert hall complex in Konya for a performance by the Mevlevi Sufi Whirling Dervishes. This proved to be a fascinating experience and involved several sets performed under different lighting conditions. I lost track of time but I imagine the entire performance spanned something like an hour and a half. Early in the piece I slipped next door to an adjoining concert hall to experience the classical Iranian folk singer Sima Bina. Seeing and hearing her and her ensemble was also an amazing experience and it was a shame I wasn't able to experience both events on different nights- anyway I got a taste of what this would be like. Headed back to our hotel quite late and turned in for the night.