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Konya - Akbas Han 47,5km
Akbas Han - Sultanhani 62km
Sultanhani - Selime 80km
Selime - Valle Ihlara 25km
Ihlara - Derinkuyu 69km
Derinkuyu - Goreme 41km

It’s been nine days since the last time we were able to have access to an Internet connection and we were anxious to read your comments and to tell you about our adventures.

From the camping site in Capadoccia, under a willow tree, hacking the “wi-fi” connection in the midst of a terrible storm, we’ll try to tell you all about our latest adventures, that is, if you can call then that.

After a few cold and rainy days came a few clouds, which finally led to sunny yet windy weather. In Konya, during our “dry-up” day we visited the incredible Museum of Mevlana. Mevlana’s tomb (1207-1273) is, nowadays, a museum but it has also been the dwelling place of the “derviches girovagos”, a religious mystic sect of the Muslim World. Mevlana was one of the greatest mystic philosophers of all times. His poems and religious writings are among the most respected and admired in the Islamic world. The museum is well worth a visit. It has a significant number of Korans including the smallest in the World. The tomb that has been ornamented in the Selyúcida style takes us back in time and helps us get a glimpse of how important the philosopher must have been.

In this very interesting city, trying to take cover from the pouring rain, we reach a marble mason’s workshop, but it is no ordinary workshop. It has specialized in tombstones. As usual we are invited to çay and since the rain continued, we continued with the çays and talking about death, the Islam, art and their tombstones. The following day we went back to say goodbye and we were surprised with an English-Turkish dictionary and a book of the Islam.

We had foreseen that leaving Konya would be a wet experience but in fact, we were like puppets in the strong wind and jolted for 41km by the uneven roads. We found ourselves in a flat, arid landscape. The rain continued to pour down and at the end of the 41 km we started looking for a place to take cover and spend the night. We thought we would find an abandoned tent but what we came across were the offices and the canteen of the road construction workers we had just been on. For a distance, it looked like a circus. The incredulous guard, after much insisting, allowed us to spend the night on the floor inside his shed. This is where we spent the night, with the light on and the TV on so that the nice old man could spend the night on guard watching the Turkish soaps that are so popular.

The next day, we stopped at Sultanhai alter a sunny day in which the wind helped us cross the Turkish steppe. This lonely village stands out for its impressive Selyucida Karvan constructed in 1229. It is the largest in Turkey. Huge walls safeguard the insecure outdoors from the inside. These places were refuge for the travellers who crossed the Route of Silk on camels in the 13th Century. These dwellings were built within 15 to 30 km of each other, the land covered in one day. The owner of Karvan Pension invited us to a few glasses of delicious wine from the area. The next day, the owner who had fallen in love with Machús, would not stop calling out her name. “María, María”, all over the pension so that he could say good-bye.

We arrived at Selime after pedalling for six hours and having travelled for 80km. At dusk, we decided to spend the night in an old town. We looked for the cave-house we liked best and we settled for the night. We had a rice, chorizo, onion and tomato bocata with the full moon lighting our romantic dinner. In the distance, we heard the calling for prayers.

The Ihlara Valley is found deep inside a canyon and it is protected by an arid steppe. It must be highlighted due to the churches in which one can find medieval frescos with their Pantocrator included. We had a quiet day following the Ihlara River to Selime. In Selime, we visited the Monastery, carved on the stone where we saw the stables, the kitchen and many houses that had also been carved in the rock.

In Ihlara, we took refuge in a vaulted, thick-walled construction. We were accompanied by many birds that had nested their. Unfortunately, we covered the windows with plastic and more than one was seriously surprised by the new architectural barrier.

Their singing and fluttering told us that it was time to get up but the cold keeps us inside our sacks for another hour. We apologise before leaving and pay them a few bread crumbs for any inconvenience. We are on our way to Goreme, but that’s another story.