November 29th

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We left Göreme to head past Konya. On our way, we stopped at a caravan way station. They were built all across Turkey as part of the Silk Road. It's a huge walled space that had separate rooms and half the space covered for winter and rain. There was an open courtyard with a centre tower. All the arches were carved with intricate detail. You could hear the hubbub of people and children and camels. I could almost smell the reek of animals and wood smoke. We then stopped in Konya where we visited the largest whirling dervish school, which is now a museum and tomb for the most famous Dervish. There was more to the Dervish world than learning the meditative dance that brought you closer to Allah. The dervishes were calligraphers, ornament ing beautiful had written copies of the Koran. They were also postal carriers in their religious travels. The school was very beautiful. On the way to the small village where we were staying for the night, we made one more stop. There is a unique wooden Mosque built in another tiny town. This mosque is stunningly beautiful with 36 salt water treated cypress columns, and every other inch of the building made out of wood. The centre was left open to the sky with a pit built into the floor below it, so that snow could be stored for the summer, so that the cypress would stay humid enough to retain its strength. The clay tiles at the front alter were some of the most beautiful we have seen yet. To end our day, we arrived at our home stay. We were staying in a beautiful tiny village with a local family. They owned a small apartment building and the extended family moved out of their rooms to give us beds. Before dinner, we walked down to the lake to get the best views of dusk settling gently on the mountains framing this lake at the end of the prairies. The meal with the family was delicious and breakfast was even better.

Good Night and Sweet Dreams

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