day 5: pamukkale, konya & cappadocia - getting high on poppy

Koray had already warned us that we were going to spend the most of today in the bus, travelling inland towards Cappadocia province.

At our first stop, he highly recommended a home-made yogurt dessert drizzled with honey, and sprinkled with poppy seeds. It was surprisingly tasty! We were told to stir it, and you get the sweetness of the honey and texture from the poppy seeds.

We arrived in Konya after 3 hour bus ride. Konya is the old capital of Anatolian Seljuk Empire, now Turkey's most religious city and home of the mystic Whirling Dervish sect. The image of the dancing white-robed man with a tall hat finally made sense. He is actually dancing to show his love for his God. The fluted turquoise-domed Mevlana Tekke was quite a sight though the museum was quite small.

The 13th cemtury Caravanserai, a hotel for the ancient travellers on the silk road, was my favourite destination today. Merchant numbers were dwindling due to high robbery rates along the journey. In order to encourage trade, the Sultan strategically built many of such hotels at intervals as far as a camel could walk a day, where merchants could get free accommodation and food for three days before they journeyed on. The only condition was that they had to either buy or sell goods to boost trade.

The grand entrance of the Caravanserai led to a spacious courtyard, with an open area on the left for animals and rooms on the right for the merchants to rest. Each room was different, some with windows, some with adjoining rooms inside, etc. At the end of the courtyard was a really big room for both merchants and their animals to stay during winter. The animals helped to keep the room warmer during the harsh winter times. All of the rooms had high ceilings and were much cooler than the outside temperature. I would have loved to stay longer and appreciate the centuries-old architcture.

• Costs: 7 Lira yoghurt, 4 Lira toothpaste, 4 Lira crisps, 2 Lira tea
• Highlight: The poppy seed yoghurt was something different and refreshing.
• Lunch: Ozkan Tesisleri - it was such a pleasant surprise to have grilled chicken wings! We were just missing lime and garlic chilli sauce. The cheese pizza was just plain cheese on flat bread but it was very tasty.