Wednesday, July 6, 2011 – Konya, Turkey to Pamukkale, Turkey

This morning we started by visiting the Mausoleum of Mevlana in Konya.  Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi was one of the most important poets and thinkers in the history of Turkish-Islamic mysticism.  The whirling dervish ceremony I saw the other night is the inspiration of Mevlana Rumi as well as a Turkish religious custom.

The Seven Principles of Mevlena are:

1.      In generosity and helping others, be like a river.

2.      In compassion and grace, be like the sun.

3.      In concealing others faults, be like the night.

4.      In anger and fury, be like the dead.

5.      In modesty and humility, be like the earth.

6.      In tolerance, be like the sea.

7.      Either exist as you are, or be as you look.

Following our visit to the mausoleum we stopped quickly to Karatay Theological School where some beautiful ancient tiles were on display.

Then we had a long five and a half hour drive to Pamukkale.  Here is a picture of me on a donkey (statue!) at a rest stop on the way.  I am loving to learn about an ancient storyteller, jokester, and religious man from the 1200s named Hodja.  There is a story about him riding his donkey backwards.  This picture was taken at the town of the little village he was supposedly born in hundreds of years ago.

And here is his cartoon image on a pencil holder that, looking back, I wish I would have purchased!

And...here is a picture of what we are checking out tomorrow!

Oh…and our hotel tonight is known for their thermal mud baths.  Nothing quite like soaking in a hot bath with a little mud on the side.  It was quite refreshing!