Memories in Sille
Let’s be honest, I was not looking forward to Konya this morning. It was not because I had to be ready to depart at 6:00 in the morning, but because I was getting stressed out about my assignment for the week. I felt like I would have been productive if I could stay back at the hotel and write up my photo essay. However, Konya was beautiful and I was very pleased that I was able to learn about the history the city has to offer.
We started out the day at Rumi’s tomb. It was pretty cool, but I was still in a stressed out mode. However, our next stop to Sille completely changed my mood for the day. Sille is a small village located in the mountains about 5 miles north of Konya. The tiny village packs so much history dating back to 300 A.D. The purpose of the visit was Aya Elena Church, built by the mother Constantine during her pilgrimage through the city. Sille was beautiful and reminded me of my childhood during the summer in Lebanon. There is one small market in the village, and very few inhabitants. It is surrounded by beautiful hills and nature. We were all excited about the town that everyone decided to take advantage of the scenery and hike up the mountain. For me, I barely went up the mountain until I decided that my shoes were not feasible for the hike and very slippery. Instead, I decided to soak in the sun at the bottom of the hill. Everybody took awesome pictures and you could tell everyone enjoyed themselves!
Everyone was really tired after their hike. We decided to visit one last place in Konya, however, it was prayer time and we couldn’t explore the Mosque. We had an hour to roam around, but I did not want to stray too far. We were all ready to get back to the hotel, eat dinner and pack for our trip to Gaziantep tomorrow. I am really looking forward to the next part of our trip; every city has had its own surprises.