We arrive at our hotel in the middle of nowhere just after 4pm. The rooms are quite dated, the air con is not very effective but nevertheless this is our home for the ext2 nights.
There are quite a few people on the bus with a cough now so we will see how we go avoiding that.
At 5.30pm we meet at the bus to take a 20 minute drive to a cave theatre to watch the 'performance' of the Whirling Dervishes .
Dervish is a Muslim religious man who is undergoing an apprenticeship of learning the profession that will bestow him with eternal livelihood. Whirling is one of the various methods, which is used by the Sufis (Islamic ascetics) to get closer to their revered Allah (God). Whirling Dervishes perform near the Mevlevi Museum in Konya in the annual Mevlana festival - the largest festival in Turkey. The Mevlevi or Mevleviye is the most renowned Sufi order, which was founded by Celaleddin Mevlana Rumi in 1273 and most of the whirling Dervishes in Turkey come from this faith.
It was a very spiritual performance with traditional music , chanting, and praying and twirling. We are not so much an audience, more observers as this is normal practice for them. We are to remain completely silent and definitely no clapping. A message that did not get expressed to another group in the cave!
No photos were taken during the ceremony but after 2 of the Dervishers came back to twirl so we could take photos.
On the way back to the hotel, Omer explained some other methods of praying for other Muslim sects as well as discussing the regiment of prayer in today's Turkey. He is very open about his religion and happy to discuss Muslims today around the world and his views are honest and relevant. It has been an interesting topic.
Back at the hotel those that did not go to the performance were waiting for us to have dinner, well at least they were until 2 more tour buses arrived, so they quickly made their way to the restaurant to get to the food first. While the hotel s not the fanciest, the food is very nice. Once again an open buffet but with freshly prepared vegetables and chicken being cooked and served straight away rather than sitting in the big dishes going cold. It's a nice meal but I stil haven't got a taste for the Turkish desserts so am sticking to the fruit.
8am start tomorrow to explore the sights of Kapadokya.