Whirling Dervishes and the southern coast

Left the Ilhara valley after breakfast and a nıce chat with Cenzig. We talked about the similarities and differences between life in Turkey and life in America... health care, family life, religion and the Turkish government's recent ban on smoking indoors in Turkey. Wow.
Got to the bus stop about half an hour early for my 10am bus... good thing since the bus came by at 9;30! Every time I think I have this system down I get another curve ball. Anyway made the bus to Aksaray and caught 11:30 bus for the 2 hour trip to Konya.
Konya is one of the most religious cities in Turkey and I was there on the last day of Ramadan....what a zoo! The entire city was getting ready for the coming 4 day celebration after Ramadan ends. The main street was transformed into a huge marketplace stretching for miles.

Gott run.... bus on the way... will finish up later.

Back again....
Konya is the religious center of the Mevlana order of Muslim monks for lack of a better word. They were quite important back in the day and wielded considerable political power. Attaturk banned the order in 1925 but allowed some locations to continue as part of the cultural heritage. The Mevlana order, known as the whirling dervishes for their trancelike spinning dance, was founded by Rumi who is entombed in the Mevlana museum in Konya along with his family and other high ranking dervishes. He preached tolerance and acceptance of all and is very highly regarded in Turkey.
You can see whirling dervish show at various places in Turkey, but they're generally expensive, short and put on just for tourists. The show I saw in Konya was free at the Konya Cultural Heritage Center. I think I was the only (American) tourist in the place. It was quite a ceremony, most of which I didn't really understand since the opening remarks and explanation were in Turkish. They wore white flowing robes and it was quite a sight when they began spinning. There were 5 of them and they spun around, one hand raised to God and the other pointing down to earth, for about 45 minutes while their left foot never left the ground. Pretty amazing feat.
Left Konya and headed to Olimpos down south on the Mediterranean coast. Stayed there a couple days wandering through Lycian and Roman ruins, sea kayaing and swimming in the sea. The hostel I stayed in was $20 per night including breakfast and dinner and the food was great... probably the best I had in Turkey.
From Olimpos I headed west along the coast to Kas and Fethiye where I spent the night and then on to Selcuk where I am now.