Konya in 2 days: Rumi, Seljuk madrasas and Sille

The spiritual and historical heart of the route. At the core of the lodge is Rumi's tomb, built in 1274; the Semahane, prayer hall, dervish cells, kitchen and fountain date from the 16th century. The lodge was closed in 1925, opened in 1926 as the Konya Museum of Antiquities and renamed the Mevlana Museum in 1954. It is the right place to get to know Mevlevi culture in its own setting before watching the Sema, and the audio guide deepens the visit.

Within walking distance of the Mevlana Museum, this museum shows 13th-century Konya in a panoramic reconstruction. An oil-painting section on Rumi's life and an open-air section with models of Mevlevi lodges around the world set the scene visually before the afternoon's Seljuk sights.

Opposite Alaeddin Hill, the Karatay Madrasa was commissioned in 1251 by Emir Celaleddin Karatay under Izzeddin Keykavus II; since 1955 it has been the Museum of Tile Works, showing tiles from the Kubad-Abad Palace. It is the place to see Seljuk tile art together with the building's own dome and walls. The nearby İnce Minareli Madrasa was commissioned between 1258 and 1279 by Vizier Sahib Ata Fahreddin Ali and designed by Kölük bin Abdullah; its portal is inscribed with the Fatiha and Yasin suras, and the upper minaret was destroyed by lightning in 1901. Its portal is worth stopping for even from outside. In 2014 the madrasas were placed on UNESCO's World Heritage Tentative List as the Anatolian Seljuk Madrasas.

The citadel and sultan's mosque of the Seljuk capital let you read the old city centre from above. Begun under Rükneddin Mesud I, the mosque was completed in 1221; it has more than forty marble columns and a carved ebony minbar made in 1155 by Mengü Berti of Ahlat. Remains of the Seljuk palace stand on one side of the mosque, and the hill is now a park for strolls and picnics. Opposite the hill, the Sırçalı Madrasa was built in 1242 by Bedreddin Muslih for teaching Islamic law; see its open-courtyard plan and main iwan, which has lost most of its tiles, from outside.

If you are in Konya on a Saturday evening, end the day with the Sema programme at the Mevlana Cultural Centre. The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008. What you saw in the Semahane of the Mevlana Museum this morning falls into place as you watch. In December the Şeb-i Arus ceremonies are also held in the same hall, from 7 to 17 December in 2026.

Settled since Phrygian times, Sille was a stopping place on the Istanbul–Jerusalem pilgrim road and was declared a protected urban site in 2001; on its southern hills are about forty caves once used as churches or homes. According to the inscription over its door, the Church of Aya Elenia was founded in AD 327 by Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, on her way to Jerusalem. With its wooden iconostasis, ambo, frescoes and ciborium, the church served as an orthopaedic hospital in the First World War; Selçuklu Municipality restored it and opened it in 2012 as the Aya Elenia Monument Museum. Afterwards, walk among the stone houses and rock-cut spaces.

After a lunch of tirit or wedding pilaf, head to the butterfly garden in Selçuklu. Of its 3,500 m² visitor area, 2,000 m² is a flight area with 60 species of butterfly and 195 plant species. As it is indoors, on a rainy day you can visit it before Sille. Don't forget some peynir şekeri to take home.

If you have a car, you can swap day two for Çatalhöyük: 11 km north of Çumra and 52 km south-east of Konya, the roughly 14-hectare Neolithic town was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2012. The East Mound has 18 Neolithic levels dating from 7400 to 6200 BC. Çatalhöyük in the morning and the Butterfly Garden in the afternoon make a good pairing.