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On Sunday, January 11, we drove from Safranbolu to Konya. When Google Maps took us off the main road, it started snowing a lot, dad claimed it was a blizzard, but it was only a snowstorm. A while later, we came across Anatolian plain where there was no snow and no trees.
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When we arrived at the AirBnB, we went out for dinner that served Konya's special dish: etliekmek. It's kind of like pizza but long instead of round. They also don't use tomato sauce.
We had a good night's sleep and in the morning we went on a walking tour with a guide named Mirac. He took us to a famous dervish school founded by the poet name Rumi in the 1200s. So, that was pretty cool. There is a museum there, where we saw where Rumi was buried. We also saw a chest which contains a strand of the Prophet Muhammed's beard.
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It was very rainy and cold, but Mirac said that this was "good weather" compared to what they usually had. We visited more mosques built by the Ottoman's and even a cat's tomb that a dervish built in the 1200s. Dad met a high school basketball team -- one of the players said that his cousin is Alperen Sengun.
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The next night, we had whirling dervishes to think about. A whirling dervish is someone who spins around in religious ceremony to help them achieve enlightenment, or something like that. It was quite boring, to be honest, but it was definitely worth seeing. They were spinning for like fifteen or twenty minutes and when I tried to spin for thirty seconds I couldn't do it.
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The last day in Konya, Anne, Mom, and I went to a science museum. It was so interactive and so fun. I learned more science at that museum than I have on the whole year abroad so far. My favorite part was the last part where they had a very big collection of legos. We stayed at the legos for like an hour.
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We arrived in Istanbul on January 5 and drove to Safranbolu the next day. Safranbolu is a charming little town about an hour away from the Black Sea. It goes back centuries. It is famous for its Ottoman houses and mosques.
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When we first arrived, we took around the snowy town with cobblestone streets. In the bazaar, there were many stores selling Turkish delights. There were also a lot of stray cats and dogs roaming around. We also had lots of time to play backgammon!
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I really liked how snowy it was. Eliza and I made several snowmen, which something I'm not used to doing.
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A few days into our stay, we went to the Safranbolu history museum. It is a charming little museum that is recently opened. It is housed in a 1914 schoolhouse and we met the guy who researched and wrote all of the exhibits. He was very passionate about local history.
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Overall, Safranbolu is probably one of my favorite places that we have been to on the trip. It is cute, charming, and I liked the chilly weather.
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We arrived in Oman the day after Christmas. To say it was a big shift from India is an understatement. Where India was all traffic and car horns, Oman was quiet and had smooth driving. On our first full day, we explored Muscat's souq and water front.
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On December 28th, we went to one of the most visited places in Oman, Wadi Shab, which is a hike through an arid canyon to turquoise swimming pools. Then we drove to Sur were we would stay before going to the desert for the 29th and 30th.
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After fifty weeks galavanting around the world, we are back home. Now it's time to reconnect with family and friends -- after four years...
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