Daily Konya Islamic Heritage Tour – Mevlana Museum & Seljuk Sites

Daily Konya Islamic Heritage Tour – Mevlana Museum & Seljuk Sites

This Konya day tour explores the spiritual capital of Turkey, home of the poet and mystic Rumi and once the seat of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate, through its most important Islamic monuments. With hotel pickup, a professional English-speaking guide, air-conditioned transport, lunch and all entrance fees included, it is a meaningful day trip for faith travellers, history enthusiasts and anyone drawn to Sufi culture and the Whirling Dervishes.

The tour begins at the Mevlana Museum, the mausoleum of Jalal ad-Din Rumi and the former lodge of the Mevlevi order. You visit the Matbah, the old dervish kitchen, the tombs beneath the famous green dome, the Tilavet Chamber where the Quran was recited and chanted, and the Sema-Hane, the hall where the whirling ceremony was performed. Next door stands the Selimiye Mosque, an elegant Ottoman building begun in 1558 for the future Sultan Selim II and completed in 1567.

The day continues to green Meram, a historic countryside area of Konya, where you see the Tavusbaba Tomb of the Seljuk-era Sufi saint Seyh Tavus Mehmet El Hindi. You then explore two masterpieces of Seljuk architecture: the Karatay Madrasah, a medieval school that reflects the long tradition of free education in the Islamic world, and the 13th-century Ince Minaret Madrasah, today a museum of wood and stone carving named after its slender tiled minaret. The final visit is the Alaaddin Mosque on its hilltop, the oldest and largest mosque of the Anatolian Seljuk period in Konya, completed in 1221 under Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad.