Phespirit goes to Turkey
tour     April/May 2002

THE CITY OF KONYA The Mevlana Museum is the spiritual heart of the Mevlevi dervish order. It contains the tomb of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi - mystic, philosopher, poet and founder of the order. Dervishes started their whirling ceremonial dance, the Sema, here in the 13th century. Mevlana prescribed it for reaching spiritual unity with God through controlled ecstacy.
THE CITY OF ANKARA The modern capital of Turkey enjoys all the luxurious trappings of presidential palaces, government offices and foreign embassies. Less luxurious are the gecekondu - shanty squatter settlements which swarm over the hills and plains surrounding the city.
THE CITY OF İSTANBUL İstanbul is the only city in the world built on two continents - Europe and Asia. Between these continents flows the Bosphorus, from the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea. Phespirit took a boat trip on the Bosphorus from the Golden Horn, passing beneath the Atatürk Bridge, to the Beylerbeyi Palace. It was a bit windy.