Last resting place of the Mevlana Population: 1,250,000
Old names: İconium, Darulmülk, Rum, Konia
Festival: Mevlana celebrations take place in week leading up to 17 December (Şeb-i Arus, the Wedding Day)
Yes, Konya is conservative in the sense that alcohol is thin on the ground, but, no, that doesn’t mean you should leave it off your itinerary since it’s one of the best places in Turkey to take the pulse of the constituency that has returned the AKP government to power four times in a row.
This is a town with a venerable history but whose glory days came in the Middle Ages when, as the capital of the Selçuk Sultanate of Rum, it was the single most important town in what is now Turkey aside from what was then Constantinople (İstanbul). The two most important monuments to survive from this period are the tomb of Mevlana and the Alaadin Cami where some of the Selçuk rulers were buried within sight of their palace.
Selçuk junkies will also want to visit the İnce Minare, Sahib-i Ata and Sırcalı Medresesi museums, all housed in magnificent buildings. Of the palace on the slopes of Alaatin Tepesi (hill) only scant remains survive although a dig currently underway should reveal more.
Konya is known for its sweets, especially pişmaniye, a candy-floss-like offering that makes a good gift for Turkish friends.
This being a town with such strong religious leanings you won’t be surprised to stumble upon shops whose entire stock consists of dates, the fruit with which the Prophet Mohammed used to break his fasts. Hacıbey Hurmacı near the Vilayet goes one better, offering chewy Kahramanmaraş-style ice cream studded with dates, the perfect cooler after a sticky day’s sightseeing.
Don’t leave town without trying:
- etliekmek, a local, and larger variation of the flat bread and meat-sauce staple lahmacun without the garlic
- fırın kebab, delicious, melt-in-your-mouth pieces of lamb served on a bed of soft pide bread with the juices soaking into it
Shrine of Mevlana
Of all Turkey’s iconic buildings, the stunning turquoise-domed tekke (lodge) housing the shrine to Celaleddin Rumi – better known to the world as Mevlana – must surely be one of the most striking. Who has not seen pictures of the place where Mevlana was buried beside his father and son? Built mainly in the late 15th/early 16th century, the famous lodge is now called the Mevlana Museum, a legacy of Atatürk’s banning of the dervish orders in 1925. However, it’s still a very active place of worship, and pilgrims still gather in their thousands to pray in front of the gorgeous beturbanned tomb of Mevlana, which sits in the space beneath the turquoise dome.
For the less religiously-inclined there are also other things to see here, including an Ottoman semahane where the whirling dervishes would have performed their practices. It now houses a small museum displaying clothing and other items associated with the great man. A second room has been converted into a prayer area.
Recent years have seen great steps being made to improve the way the shrine is presented to visitors with the addition of a glorious rose garden (full of tulips in spring) that encourages visitors to spread themselves out, thus reducing some of the bottlenecks at busy times.
A project to open up more of the surrounding courtyard has also been completed and visitors can now not only admire the tableaux and artworks inside the dervish cells surrounding it but also visit the kitchens that played a central role in dervish rituals.
In line with the best ideas on modern museum presentation, the grounds also have a stylish new café and gift shop which stocks a guidebook written in decent English. Finally, a visit to the site is greatly enhanced by an excellent audioguide that can be picked up at the ticket desk.
Best time to visit: Many tulip (lale) bulbs are grown around Çumra, south of Konya, and then despatched to İstanbul for the Tulip Festival every April. At that time Konya too succumbs to tulip fever, with the slopes of Alaadin Tepesi thickly carpeted in flowers just as the horse chestnut and Judas trees also come into blossom. As soon as the tulips are over the roses flower, making May almost as good a time for a visit. Of course if you want to see the traditional celebrations for Mevlana’s wedding night (in other words, his death) you will need to visit in December when there are no flowers at all to be seen.
A visit to the shrine may be the main reason for coming to Konya, but there are plenty of other interesting historical sights to see around town, and you could easily spend a couple of days here. Most of the sights are to be found either along Mevlana/Alaettin Caddesi, which runs from the shrine to Alaettin Tepesi (Aladdin’s Hill), or around the hill itself.
Particularly worth a visit are the two small museums near the hill. The 13th-century İnce Minare Medresesi (closed Mondays) on the west side of the hill is conspicuous for its truncated minaret which was struck by lightning in 1901 and for the florid Selçuk carvings around its entrance. Inside, it contains some interesting stonework from the old Selçuk castle that make it plain that the ban on images of living things was not originally enforced in this part of the world.
The Tile Museum (closed Mondays) in the nearby Karatay Medresesi (1251) showcases tiles saved from the ruined Selçuk palace of Kubadabad on the shores of Lake Beyşehir.
Alaettin Tepesi makes a great place to stop for a glass of tea and a look at the map. Here, too, you will find the superb early 13th-century Alaeddin Cami built with a long, thin prayer hall rather like the mosques of Damascus where its architect had grown up. It’s named after Alaeddin Keykubad I who was Sultan of Rum from 1219 to 1231, and who is buried inside the mosque along with Alparslan (1029-1072), the mighty Selçuk leader who defeated the Byzantines at Manzikert in 1071.
Not far away stand the scant remains of a palace (Alaeddin Köskü, Selçuklu Sarayı) built for Sultan Kılıç Arslan (1092-1107). Unfortunately, restorative efforts in the late 2010s have not met with full-throated approval.
It takes a little wandering around the back streets to find the Sırçalı Medresesi (Crystal Seminary, 1242), with spectacular blue tiles adorning one wall of the courtyard; it’s worth the risk of getting lost just to see them.
The Archaeology Museum (closed Mondays), is even further to walk. This is the place to come if you’re planning a trip to nearby Çatalhöyük since it houses some of the finds from this extraordinary Neolithic settlement (the best are in Ankara’s Museum of Anatolian Civilisations). The collection of sarcophagi includes a magnificent model depicting the Labours of Hercules with the hero gradually ageing as he works his way around its sides.
Just round the corner is the lovely Sahib-i Ata Hanigah Museum (closed Mondays) housed in the exquisite late 13th-century Sahib-i Ata Külliyesi (mosque complex). Tiled in cobalt, the museum space contains a selection of carpets taken from local mosques including the Alaeddin Cami as well as a number of gorgeous wooden preaching chairs brought here from the Eşrefoğlu Cami at Beyşehir in the Turkish Lake District. There’s a minaret built into its gateway.
Few Ottoman houses survive to help you imagine what an older Konya would have looked like. Belatedly those of Mengüç and Sokullu Mehmet Paşa streets between the bazaar and the local bus station have been restored to pleasing effect.
Given the reverence in which Mevlana was long held it’s hardly surprising that Konya is one of the few towns in central Anatolia to boast fine mosques built in Ottoman times. The most obvious of these is the Sultan Selim Cami right beside the shrine, an imposing structure, completed in 1574, that stands comparison with some of the finest mosques in İstanbul.
Also dating from this relatively early Ottoman period is the Şerafeddin Cami, midway down Mevlana Caddesi that was completely rebuilt in 1636.
Slightly harder to locate is the Aziziye Cami in the bustling shopping area south of the shrine. This was built for Sultan Abdülaziz in 1867 and exemplifies the frilly baroque style then all the rage in the capital.
In 1925 Atatürk banned the dervish orders as part of his fast-track modernisation of the country. That Konya remained a significant town is evidenced by the fine early Republican buildings clustered around the Vilayet on Mevlana Caddesi, one of them, the post office, a pleasing minor example of First National Architecture, one of whose great glories is the Büyük Postane (Main Post Office) in İstanbul’s Sirkeci district.
The entire bazaar area has been renovated and looks a bit Toytownish although it will no doubt bed down nicely over time. In the middle of the bazaar is the impressively porticoed Kapı Cami, built in 1658.
Those less interested in the past might like to look for the striking new Bilim Merkezi (Science Centre) although it’s remote location is a considerable drawback. Bus No 44 from Mevlana Caddesi takes an hour to get there through endless dreary suburbs.
Heading for the railway station you might like to take a quick look at the huge statue of Atatürk, known simply as the Anıt (Monument) by everyone. It was the second statue of him to be erected in Turkey after the first at Sarayburnu and the sculptor was the same man, Heinrich Krippel (1883-1945).
Augustus Hotel. Tel: 0332-320 6835
Dedeman Konya Konya’s take on a local hotel chain is out on the road heading for Sille. It’s the place to come if you want four-star comforts and don’t mind not being in the heart of the action. Tel: 0332-221 6600
Derviş Otel
Hich Hotel Konya
Hilton Garden Inn. Tel: 0332-221 6000
Hotel Anı & Şems
Hotel Balıkçılar
Hotel Ney
Hotel Rumi
Hotel Ulusan Long-time backpacker’s favourite in a great location just off Mevlana Caddesi behind the post office. Rooms are small but spotless and Ali Ulusan could hardly be a more enthusiastic host. Tel: 0332-351 5004
Rixos Konya. Tel: 0332-221 500
Sultan Selim CamiTravel info
Konya (KYA) airport lies to the south-east of the city and there are daily flights to Konya from İstanbul.
The Space Age-looking otogar is connected to the city centre by a tram just a short walk away outside. An extension now runs down Mevlana Caddesi to reach the best hotels. Even with the tram you should assume it will take at least 45 minutes to get from the town centre to the otogar.
Fairly regular bus services link the city with Antalya, Nevşehir in Cappadocia, and Isparta in the Turkish Lake District.
Buses to nearby towns including Karapınar and Karaman leave from the Karatay Otogar which is within walking distance of the Mevlana shrine. Those to Beyşehir leave from the main otogar.
The train station is in the centre of Konya although not near the historic sites. There are direct daily services to İstanbul as well as high-speed links to Ankara via Polatlı (for Gordion) and to İstanbul via Eskişehir. There are also two train services a day to Karaman.
Many local bus services leave from midway along Mevlana Caddesi or from Alaaddin, the area at the end of the road near the Alaaddin Tepesi. You need to buy a ticket or renewable ElKart before boarding.
Konya’s dolmuşes are very user-friendly since you can still pay in cash on board. Many, including the one to the Otogar, leave from the junction of Aziziye and Piroğlu Caddesis.
Work on building a city Metro was underway in 2024.
Day trip destinations
Dates (hurma) are a popular purchase in Konya
