Road Trip!

To celebrate our anniversary Ken and I spent most of September 1st together.  But in the evening he saw me off with the group heading to parts east.  After 25 years together, we figure we can manage another very brief separation. 

Our road trip began with a variety of transportation modes.  We walked to the metro station in Sultanahmet and road the train across the Golden Horn where we caught the ferry at Karakoy going to Hydrapasha.  There we met our tour guide, Tosin and boarded the night train to Ankora.  The gentle swaying of the train rocked me to sleep in my cozy sleeping berth. 

I awoke far from the cosmopolitan coastal Istanbul.  Once a sleepy village, the founder of modern Turkey chose Ankora as the site of the new capital city.  To accommodate his new government he had the city built quickly.  Today it suffers a severe case of urban sprawl with apartment buildings standing in ranks, somewhat reminiscent of the former Soviet block.

At the Ankora station we climbed aboard our private tour bus and began driving almost due south to Konya, once called Iconia.  The Anatolian Plateau resembled southern California with its rolling hills and fields of gold.  Occasional villages dotted the scene.  We stopped for a tasty buffet breakfast at a fancy rest stop and drove on.  Eventually we passed through landscape that reminded me of the San Joaquin Valley and finally arrived in Konya; once known as Iconia. 

Balikcilar Hotel stands facing Mevlana Mosque.  We checked into the hotel and walked to the museum/mausoleum that stand next to the mosque.  The Sufi founder, Mevlana, also called Rumi, is burried here.  After a brief stop for lunch we continued on foot to several restored Madrasas, former Islamic schools, that now serve as museums; one for Seljuk tile the other for stone carving.  Still ready for more, I went with the die-hards to see the Seljuk Aladdin Mosque.  Built in the early 13th century, the building style was distinctly different from those in Istanbul.  The original wooden dome has been replaced with plaster, but it is much smaller than massive domes of the later Ottoman period.
Whew.  So much to see and process and all amazing.  After unwinding a bit in the room, I joined the group on the roof terrace for supper.   We ate our meal as we watched the sky turn pink and shades of dusky purple.  The muezzin called the faithful to prayer as the sun set.