Konya - Surroundings

In Cihanbeyli a salt town about 100km/62mi north of Konya, a road forks off to the national salt works 23km/14mi away at Yavsan Tuzlasi by the Tuz Gölü. The management will usually permit a guide to accompany visitors around the extensive complex on the lake. Another smaller private salt works is situated by Bulak Gölü some 15km/9mi to the south.

A road leads 34km/21mi southwest of Konya to the village of Hatunsaray on the Kavak Deresi. It is the ancient town of Lystra, home of Timothy and a disciple of the apostle Paul. The latter cured a lame man there and was then almost stoned to death (Acts 14: 8-20). Only a few remains of Lystra are preserved but they include a Temple of Zeus.

Close to the northern edge of Konya opposite the fork to Aksaray lies an attractive caravanserai which was restored in 1956 and includes a raised nave and ten transepts, strong semi-circular supporting pillars, central brick dome with an octagonal drum and narrow windows.

The small town of Ilgin lies on the road to Afyon some 85km/53mi northwest of Konya near the ancient site of Tyriaion where, according to Xenophon, the Persian king Kyros stopped for three days to muster his troops. In 1576 Mustafa Pasa built the Pir Husein Bey Camii for Murat II, following the same plans as for the Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia) in Istanbul. Some sulfur baths rebuilt by Alaeddin on the Byzantine ruins can be seen to the west of the town on a hill.

About 61km/38mi northwest of Konya stands the town of Kadinhani (women's caravanserai), a Seljuk caravanserai that dates from 1223. It was endowed by a woman named Raziye Hatun Bt. Mahmut. The three-aisled hall (inscription above the doorway) has only three windows and the decorations on the facade include a sarcophagus with a relief of two women.

Meram 8km/5mi from the town center of Konya was well known to the Seljuks because of its springs and luxuriant vegetation. Wealthy Konyali had their summer residences here and the governor of the town owned a castle in the town. His poetry anthology (Divan) contains poems in praise of Meram. Here also Mevlana wrote a large part of his work "Mesnevi", stories and mystical thoughts written in verses (six volumes). The old gardens are a popular haunt for the townsfolk during the evening.

About 20km/12.5mi northeast of Konya stands the magnificent caravanserai of Sadeddin Köpek (Zazadin Hani) which was built between 1235 and 1236. To the left on the wide southern side, alongside the imposing marble and limestone court entrance, stands the hall with a tall narrow nave, six transepts and a ruined dome. Thirteen towers secure the complex's long courtyard. A staircase leads to the mosque above the entrance. Unlike the main entrance the winter hall is decorated.

Only 12km/7mi south of Hadim, the picturesque town of Taskent with its traditional, flat-roofed houses clings like an amphitheater to the vertical rocks and overhangs from a dizzying height the deep valley cut by a tributary of the upper Göksu Nehri.