KONYA

'Come, come again and again! Come be you unbeliever, idolater or fire worshipper. Whoever you are or whatever your condition, come! Our hearth is not the threshold of despair. Even if you have fallen a hundred times, come!' Celaleddin-i Rumi. A spiritual center on the mid-Anatolian plain, this once Byzantine-Orthodox Patriarchate transformed into a religious capital for the Turks. Selçuks invaded the city and made it their capital in the 11th century, redefining the city by their construction of a number of impressive mosques.