Istanbul Hotels

"Come, come again, whoever you are, come!
Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come!
Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times,
Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are."

Who is Mevlana?
Mevlana who is also known as Rumi, was a philosopher and mystic of Islam, but not a Muslim of the orthodox type. His doctrine advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love. To him and to his disciples all religions are more or less truth. Looking with the same eye on Muslim, Jew and Christian alike, his peaceful and tolerant teaching has appealed to men of all sects and creeds.

Mevlana was born on 30 September 1207 in Balkh in present day Afghanistan. He died on 17 December 1273 in Konya in present day Turkey. He was laid to rest beside his father and over his remains a splendid shrine was erected. The 13th century Mevlana Mausoleum with its mosque, dance hall, dervish living quarters, school and tombs of some leaders of the Mevlevi Order continues to this day to draw pilgrims from all parts of the Muslim and non-Muslim world.

Whirling Dervishes
The "dance" of the Whirling Dervishes is called Sema. Sema is a part of the inspiration of Mevlana as well as part of the Turkish custom, history, beliefs and culture.

Sema represents a mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent through mind and love to "Perfect." Turning towards the truth, his growth through love, desert his ego, find the truth and arrive to the "Perfect," then he return from this spiritual journey as a man who reached maturity and a greater perfection, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation, to all creatures without discrimination of believes, races, classes and nations.

We've searched every corner of the globe to bring you the most useful, interesting and best quality links on the web with information about Turkey.

If it doesn't have what you want, just close the new window and this page will still be here.

For discount travel, hotel reservations, vacation packages and car rental, use the blue travel search box to the left.

We are affiliated with the major wholesale travel booking group TravelNow.

The blue TravelNow search box to the left can scan thousands of web sites to find the cheapest discount travel tickets currently available on the internet.

Give it a try... it works!

For detailed information about most Middle Eastern cities (restaurants, maps, cinema, festivals, shops, etc), and to book discount flights, hotels, car rentals, etc. for those cities, click here.

Information 1 2 3 4 >>

home page

---