Daily Konya & Catalhoyuk

Early morning transfer to Istanbul Airport for a flight to Konya, our staff will meet you at the airport then drive to Catalhoyuk which is an ancient city its history goes back to 7000 BC.
The Neolithic site of Catalhoyuk was first discovered in the late 1950s and excavated between 1961 and 1965. The site rapidly became renowned internationally mainly because of the size and dense occupation of the settlement, as well as the spectacular wall paintings and other artifacts that were uncovered inside the houses. These excavations revealed this section of Anatolia as a centre of advanced culture in the Neolithic period.  In July 2012, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A striking feature of Catalhoyok are its female figurines. Mellaart, the original excavator, argued that these well-formed, carefully made figurines, carved and molded from marble, blue and brown limestone, schist, calcite, basalt, alabaster, and clay, represented a female deity.

After our Catalhoyuk Tour, we will drive back to Konya and have lunch at a  local restaurant which serves delicious traditional Konya dishes like ovenbaked kebab, okra, etliekmek or other local specialties.

After lunch we visit the Mevlana Museum, located in city center, the mausoleum of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, a Sufi mystic also known as Mevlana or Rumi. It was also the dervish lodge of the Mevlevi order, better known as the whirling dervishes. Sultan Ala al-Din Kayqubad, the Seljuk sultan who had invited Mevlana to Konya, offered his rose garden as a fitting place to bury Baha ud-Din Walad (also written as Bahaeddin Veled), the father of Mevlana, when he died on 12 January 1231.
When Mevlana died in 17 December 1273 he was buried next to his father. Mevlanas successor Husamettin Celebi decided to build a mausoleum (Kubbe-i-Hadra) over his grave of his master.
The conical dome is covered with turquoise faience. However several sections were added until 1854. Selimoglu Abdulvahit decorated the interior and performed the woodcarving of the catafalques. The decree of 6 April 1926 confirmed that the mausoleum and the dervish lodge (Dergah) were to be turned into a museum. The museum opened on 2 March 1927. In 1954 it was renamed as Mevlana Museum.
Karatay Museum: It was built in 13th century to be taught some islamic subjects in Seljuks period. Today the ceramics that were found in Konya area are exhibited in this museum. We also see the 13th century Ince Minaret, Sırcalı Medrese and Alaeddin Mosque .

At the end of the day you will be transferred to the airport for a flight to Istanbul. You will be met at the airport and transferred to your hotel in Istanbul.