We just returned from traveling through the Turkish countryside as we visited interesting and historic places such as Çatalhöyük, the oldest known settlement currently under exploration in the world. It is 9500 years old so that would make its inhabitants date back to 7500 years before Christ. From there we went to Iconium, modern day Konya. It is a quiant little city of one million plus and a place that some of our teammates are moving to in about a year. It is well known for the Mevlanna museam, which houses the founder of Sufi Islam, which is famous for the whirling dervishes. These people would dance-spin themselves around in a circle until they spun themselves into a trance. All this was a way of trying to achieve a closer connection with God.
The next stop on our trip was one of the most interesting places I have ever seen. It is Cappadocia and it is famous for it's chimney style rock formations. Out of these tall rock structures, people carved out caves for houses and churches. Many of these caves are still evident and available to the public, just depending on how brave you are, as some are upwards of 50 feet high. We even had the opportunity to spend the night in a cave hotel. Our last stop was to an underground city where early believers would hide out when persecution was approaching. It had 12 floors underground with all kinds of tunnels and secret passageways. People could camp out there for up to 6 months before coming back above ground. Here are a few of the pics, but most of it you will have to see for yourself or talk to Dr. and Mrs. Dobbs as they were troopers and didn't want to miss anything.
1 comment:
I recall Jack Cristil one time describing a pass receiver as "whirling like a dervish." I wonder if Jack ever visited Turkey?
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