Roughly midway between Antalya and Nevsehir, Konya is a place of pilgrimage for the Muslim world - the home of Celalledin Rumi or the Mevlana ("Our Master"), the mystic who founded the Mevlevi or Whirling Dervish sect, and the centre of Sufic mystical practice and teaching. It was also a capital during the Selcuk era, many of the buildings from which are still standing, along with examples of their highly distinctive crafts and applied arts, now on display in Konya’s museums. The Mevlana Museum (Mon 10am-5pm, Tues-Sun 9am-5pm; $2.50) is housed in the first lodge (tekke) of the Mevlevi dervish sect, at the eastern end of Mevlana Bulvari, easily recognizable by its distinctive fluted turquoise dome. Archaeology shows that the Konya region is one of the most ancient settlements of Anatolia. The results of excavations in Catalhoyuk, Karahoyuk, Cukurkent and Kucukoy show the region was inhabited as far back as the Neolithic Period (Late Stone Age) of BC 7000. Other settlers of the city before Islam were; the Calcolitic Period (Copper Age) civilizations, Bronze Age civilizations, Hittites, Frigians, Lidians, Persians, Romans and finally Byzantines.
Konya is an important place for Christians as well because St. Paul and St. Barnabas came to the city on one of their journeys in Asia Minor around 50 AD. St. Paul preached in Konya but they angered both Jews and Gentiles so they had to leave the city and went to Derbe and Lystra. The first exposure of the city to Islam happened during the time of the Caliph Muaviya. Later, attacks made by Arabic Muslims, whether Emevi’s or Abbasi’s, yielded no results. Konya’s real meeting with and adopting of Islam began some time after the victory of Seljuks at Malazgirt in 1071, in the time of Kutalmisoglu Suleyman. The attacks of the Crusaders from 1076 to the end of the 12th century could not wrench the city from Islam. Konya was the capital of Seljuks between 1071 and 1308. In 1220 Alaaddin Keykubad I repaired the city wall and decorated them with towers. But the city has been the site of a power - struggle between the Seljuks, Karamanoglu’s, Mongols, and Ilhan’s and it changed hands a few times. In the time of Fatih Sultan Mehmet, in 1466, Konya joined the lands of the Ottoman Empire. The first general census was made by the sultan and repeated in the time of Bayazit II, Kanuni Sultan Suleyman, and Murad III. Konya’s bus station is 10km out of town, from where the Konak dolmus and tramway connects with the town centre; the train station is 2km out of the centre at the far end of Istasyon Caddesi, connected to the centre by regular dolmuses. The tourist office is at Mevlana Cad 21 (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm; tel 0332/351 1074). Konya’s better hotels are on or just north of Mevlana Caddesi; outside the annual Mevlana festival (Dec) rates can usually be bargained down.