Cultural trip to Beyşehir and Konya

DEPARTURE: 8 April 2016

RETURN: 10 April 2016

Tour programme:

Day 1: We set off at night at the agreed time. After breaks along the way, we reach Beyşehir in the morning. We visit the Eşrefoğlu Mosque in Beyşehir, the Fasıllar Monument, Eflatunpınar, Şükran Village and the Anatolian Museum.

After our visit, we set off towards Konya. We arrive at our hotel in Konya and check in. At 19:00 we attend the sema ceremony at the Mevlana Cultural Centre.

Day 2: After breakfast at the hotel, we check out and begin our tour of Konya: the Alaeddin Mosque and Tomb, the Karatay Tile Museum, the Mevlana Museum, the Selimiye Mosque of Konya, the Tomb and Mosque of Shams of Tabriz, the Konya Martyrs’ Cemetery and the Meram vineyards. At the suggestion and with the help of Ramazan Erkuş, Vice President of the Konya Chamber of Commerce, we attend a wedding meal at the Atiker facilities of an industrialist from Konya. From there we visit the BUTTERFLY VALLEY built by our Selçuklu Municipality, the second of its kind in the world. We thank the Mayor of Selçuklu, Konya, for bringing such a work to Konya. Then we set off back to İzmir. After breaks along the way, we arrive in İzmir in the evening, and our tour ends.

On our trip we saw that the transformation and development of Konya in particular made us extremely happy. These positive developments, above all the increase in Konya’s hotel capacity and quality, the remarkable growth of urban development and green spaces, the building of the Torku Arena stadium and of the Butterfly Valley, have brought tremendous energy to Konya. We sincerely thank everyone who contributed, above all the Metropolitan Mayor and principal president of our Konyalılar Federation, Tahir Akyürek.