[Travelogue] Turkey Trip, Day 4 | Konya, Mevlana Museum, Caravanserai, Cappadocia, and Belly Dance :)

By Lasmarya Hadi Purwanto - July 18, 2016

13th June 2016

We set out from Lycus River Thermal Hotel at 7 in the morning.

Our local tour guide had told us the day before that we'd be on a long road trip to Cappadocia that day so he suggested us to wear casual and comfy shirts to begin the day with. It is indeed a long way from Denizli to Cappadocia, as seen from the map below.

If you asked me whether I would feel bored sitting on the bus for the long ride, wishing we would reach our next stop soon, I would definitely say no! Cause the view along the way was just sooo... I cannot find the most exact word to describe it, but it was just so mesmerizing, so beautiful, calming, simply just like what I expressed in the Day 1's post, the view was like the desktop wallpapers right in front of your eyes, I just couldn't get bored of it, that I was so grateful even if you ask me to stay in the bus the whole day, I guess I would still be able to enjoy it. You'll get to see almost everything on the way, the cities, the sea, the trees, the green meadow, farm, flowers...

It's not that we didn't try to capture it, but at times, it looked better in our eyes than in the camera, that we realized we should just enjoy it right away and store the beauty we saw in our memories.

If you can't believe what I said, since I couldn't provide you with any high quality footage of the view, maybe you should consider going there and experience it by yourself. Maybe you'll end up sitting on the bus with a big smile, and eyes keep staring out the bus, just like me. :p

Leaving the hotel, we first made a stop at a big textile supermarket/company called Varol. This is the place where couples in Turkey usually buy their wedding necessities like towel, bathrobe, bedsheet, pillow, and so on for their new home. It is said that in Turkey, there's a tradition in which the husband to be will be the one who buy the house, while the wife to be will buy the things to fill in the house, like the wedding necessities we can find there, the furniture, the appliances etc.

Varol is a well-known textile company in Turkey that also supplies a large amount of textile products to hotels, as stated in their website. http://varoltekstil.com.tr /

Varol's bamboo towel is so soft and silky, and again, they gave us another crazy discounts. All the stated price in the price tag was actually in USD, but they would count it as Turkish Lira for us. It's like selling with only 1/3 of the normal price.

On one of our bus stop, the tour guide suggested us to try this Yoghurt + Honey + Dried Poppy Seed, which is the local famous dessert. This tastes soooooooo good, I'd never known that plain yoghurt and honey could get along so well, and the poppy seeds taste like peanuts on top of it. It costs around 8 lira for this dessert. Since then, I've been eyeing for yoghurt plus honey in every buffet we had in hotels' restaurant, cause they really are match made in heaven :d:d

(p.s: This opinion is subject to my own preference of taste, as I really love yoghurt and peanut! So if you don't like sour things, you probably won't like it)

The view at the bus stop. Everyone else was queuing for the restroom, while I was hunting for this. XD

Without realizing it, we'd made it to the lunch time, and the guide took us to have baked chicken as lunch. Everyone was sooo happy, that they finally found something they could eat and satisfy their cravings, haha. The tour members had been complaining about the food in Turkey, cause it tends to taste sour, and with the spices they use, it's just too different from Indonesian food.

I ate well over there though, maybe because I'm a big eater, and as long as I am full, I'm happy? >o<

*should really go on a diet *please stop eating too much *in the middle of hypnotizing myself

(Sorry for the blurry photo, needed to snap it quick, cause everyone else had started to dig in once it was served. It was really good, though!!)

And in several hours, we arrived in Konya and visited Mevlana Museum. It is a mausoleum named after Mevlana, a 13th century Persian poet and Islamic scholar, who created the Mevlevi Order dance.

(The Mevlevi Order dance or the Whirling Dervishes)

Then, to Sulthani Caravanserai, a 13th century caravanserai (a roadside innwhere traders at the ancient times could rest and recover from the journey) which is not longer operating and is one of the three monumental caravanserai in the neighborhood of Aksaray. It is said that there was a rule before, that in every 30 km there should be a hotel or inn for the traders who were on long trading journeys, but why 30 km? Because that's the maximum distance a camel could reach without stopping.

Unfortunately, entrance is forbidden. :(

Finally, arrived at Suhan Cappadocia Hotel. Yes, finally, Cappadocia! Yippieeee!

Arrived at almost sunset, so it was around 7-8, and we needed to rush ourselves to see the Belly Dance Show at 9 p.m. We were supposed to watch the show the day after, but since on the next day, the dance troupe were having a day off, we had no choice but to watch it one day earlier. We were quite worried though, cause we had to wake up very early the next day to catch the hot air balloon, and we would be back from the show very late at night.