Konya - Mevlana Museum and Caravanserais

At Konya, we visited Mevlana Museum in late afternoon, and the guide had to check whether it opened or not since Prince Charles came to visit on that day. Mevlana Museum holds the tomb of Mevlâna Jelaleddin Rumî, founder of the Mevlevi order of dervishes, commonly called the Whirling Dervishes. The Mevlâna Müzesi is a place of pilgrimage for Muslims because Rumî is a saint. His poetic message of peace, love of God and one's fellow creatures, resounds to a far wider audience today than it did over 700 years ago when Rumî preached and taught in Konya, and whirled in ecstasy through its streets. Muslim and non-Muslim pilgrims come from throughout the world to visit his tomb and his relatives. The museum also exhibits dervish musical instruments, including ney, Mevlana flute made of bamboo, antique prayer carpets, korans, prayer beads, and the mother-of-pearl case holds relics of the Prophet Muhammed.

We visited Caravanserais in the evening; it was built during Ottoman period to protect merchants who traveled the caravan routes that crossed Anatolia along the Roman-Byzantine road system.