This morning we got up early because the Cultural Ministery gave us special permission to film at Rumi’s tomb before opening hours – before the hordes of worshippers descended on the place.

For Sufis it’s perhaps their most sacred site – and we had it all to ourselves for an hour this morning.

We then returned to the hotel – a boutique hotel right opposite the main mosque – and had one of the most extraordinary breakfasts I’ve ever had –

We then went our separate ways for a few hours – Jen and I wandered around the town and then came back to the hotel and had a nap – Zeyno, Fatih and Priyanka also had a kip – before reconvening at 3pm to meet the head of the Rumi Foundation in Konya.

The gentleman couldn’t speak English, however based on a question I asked him, he  spent quite a bit of time drawing a diagram to show me what happened to your soul after you die.

We then went to Shams tomb – Shams was the man who most influenced Rumi in the mid 13th century – and is referenced by Rumi in quite a bit of his poetry. HIs tomb is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After all this tomb action, we were hungry, so we went and had a traditional Koyna early dinner at a fabulous restaurant, generously hosted by Zeyno and Fatih.

Here is a photo of two of our cooks –

After the lunner (lunch/dinner), we then made our way to a huge modern stadium where there was to be a large public Whirling Dervish dance ritual.

It was held in a large indoor arena – like for rock concerts or indoor sports games. The place was packed, and while the Whirling Dervishes were polished and highly professional, it smacked more of entertainment rather than a deeply humbling spiritual experience, such as we’d witnessed in that outer suburban hall in Istanbul.

Dervishes were originally ascetics. Like Indian sadhus. They were very much like Franciscan monks, renouncing all material possessions and largely begging for food.

Rumi is said to have begun the Whirling ceremony (Sema) – a form of movement meditation designed to bring the practitioner (the Semazen) closer to God. Here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia:

In the symbolism of the Sema ritual, the semazen’s camel’s hair hat (sikke) represents the tombstone of the ego; his wide, white skirt (tennure) represents the ego’s shroud. By removing his black cloak (hırka), he is spiritually reborn to the truth. At the beginning of the Sema, by holding his arms crosswise, the semazen appears to represent the number one, thus testifying to God’s unity. While whirling, his arms are open: his right arm is directed to the sky, ready to receive God’s beneficence; his left hand, upon which his eyes are fastened, is turned toward the earth. The semazen conveys God’s spiritual gift to those who are witnessing the Sema. Revolving from right to left around the heart, the semazen embraces all humanity with love. The human being has been created with love in order to love. Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi says, “All loves are a bridge to Divine love. Yet, those who have not had a taste of it do not know!”

Wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufi_whirling

It’s a fascinating ceremony – and the Dervishes have to undergo intense preparation and cleansing before they can become Semazens.

The more I learn about Sufism, the more I feel aligned to it. In fact, I feel very aligned to Konya. I feel comfortable here…

This evening we said goodbye to Priyanka. She had to return to Istanbul for work. She said she might join us on part of the Indian tour, which would be fabulous.

Here is her jewellery website. She’s a very clever young lady –
http://aamaya-by-priyanka.myshopify.com

This morning started early – with a wonderful interview with a lady who is a direct descendent of Rumi.

Her name is Esin Celebi Bayru, and she’s the 22nd granddaughter of Mevlana (Rumi) – and vice President of the Mevlana Foundation. She is recognised internationally as a key representative of Rumi’s works and teachings.

Here is a link to their website:
http://mevlanafoundation.com/index_en.html

Rumi was a 13th century poet and mystic. Sufism is the mystic tradition of Islam – also regarded as the feminine heart of Islam – and Rumi is at the heart of that heart.

His works have permeated contemporary western culture. Rumi’s quotes on love often appear on Facebook for instance. HIs poetry books on love are best sellers. He’s very popular on St. Valentine’s Day!

Here’s a wiki link on Rumi:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi

Konya, which is where we are now, is his home – and where he’s now entombed. It’s a pilgrimage site for Sufis from around the world.

Here’s a wiki link on Konya:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konya

Whereas some Muslims have taken Islamic teachings to sometimes harsh and violent extremes, the Sufis advocate a philosophy of love, compassion, tenderness, and brotherhood. To that extend the philosophies sit in accord with the Hindu Master Yogananda, (author of Autobiography of a Yogi), and also those of St. Francis of Assisi.

In fact there are many similarities between Rumi and St. Francis.

Our trip in Turkey is being selflessly coordinated by a wonderful young lady named Zeyno, who was introduced to us by Joni Patry, the Vedic Astrologer in Dallas. Zeyno operates a spiritual centre in Istanbul, and on previous occasions has invited Joni to her centre to conduct astrology workshops.

Zeyno is a fascinating lady. Married to a former US diplomat and high level Government advisor, she lived and worked in Washington for many years. She too worked as a high level advisor, and became the go-to person for TV talk shows and the news cycles when they required someone articulate, knowledgeable and intelligent to discuss Islamic extremism.

Zeyno was raised in Turkey and gained a deep knowledge and understanding of Sufi principles, and so she takes a very compassionate and moderate line on Islamic matters.

She and her partner Fatih, who has a wicked sense of humour, have come to Konya with us to coordinate our filming here.

Their centre, in Istanbul, is called the Karmic Healing and Development Centre. I’ll do a separate post on it later, but one of the things they do is they work through your past lives to find an incident or recurring issue that is now impacting detrimentally on your current life. They work to clear that in the previous life so that you become unencumbered in the life you’re leading now.

They work one on one, in person – but they also work with clients via Skype. Here is a link to their website, with contact details. Or if you wish, contact me  and I can put you in touch with her – (billpgsblog@gmail.com). They also conduct tours to some really cool parts of the world…

http://karmiksifa.com/eng/index.aspx

Accompanying us on this trip to Konya is a gorgeous young Indian lass, Priyanka, who at the tender age of 26 is an internationally acclaimed jewellery designer who runs a highly successful business with high end buyers all over Europe and the UK.

So Jennifer and I are in good hands!

After arriving in Koyna we first got permission to film, then we went to Rumi’s tomb and did some location surveys for filming tomorrow morning.

For Jennifer, being in such a sacred place was a profound experience –

In the late afternoon we drove out of town to a church that was originally built in 320 AD -one of the earliest known Christian churches.

The surrounding hills are scoured with caves where the Christians hid during a period of intense persecution.

Later I did an interview with a high level Sufi who gave a wonderful Islamic perspective on intuition. It nicely balances the Christian view, and sits alongside the view of Hindus and Buddhists.

Konya is a deeply spiritual place. You can feel it. It’s dry and dusty, and the hills outside of town look like they must have looked more than two thousand years ago. You look at those hills and you’re immediately swept back in time, when the philosophies that many now live by were being hewn.

The film is like a stew – it’s getting tastier as I add more ingredients. The Islamic and Sufi perspectives we’re getting in Turkey are giving the film a complexity that is both fresh, yet wonderfully compatible with views gathered elsewhere.

Tomorrow is a big day – filming starts at 8am back at Rumi’s tomb – and we have a large scale demonstration of Whirling Dervishes tomorrow night.

More on the training and philosophy behind that tomorrow…

The day started at 4:44am. That’s what it said on the beside clock when the Call to Prayer wailed out in the dark.

The hotel we’re staying in is just around the corner from one of the most famous Islamic mosques in the world – the Blue Mosque.

I wanted to film at the mosque at the dawn prayer time, so somehow I coerced my wife to get up and join me. She did a pretty good job at pretending she was awake for the next two hours, until the sun came up and she got a coffee.

Visitors hours didn’t start till 8:30am, but the pre-dawn prayers were in session at 5am, so I walked in. The security guard gave me a nod of approval, and I began filming.

There was only a small group of worshippers at that time of the morning, and after they’d finished their service, which was eerie and mesmerising, they then left.

I had the entire Blue Mosque all to my self.

I completed the filming I wanted to do, then sought out a coffee place to resuscitate my wife, who would have passed an audition for The Walking Dead.

We had breakfast, had a twenty minute kip, then went out on what turned out to be a 10km walk around Istanbul.

We were scammed by a shoe shine guy – see earlier post – and two taxis, so decided to walk everywhere.

Got back with less than an hour to spare before having to go out to film a ceremony organised by a religious group that follows the philosophies and teachings of the ancient mystic and poet, Rumi.

We had to drive to the outskirts of Istanbul, to a hall in a rough part of town.

For ninety minutes one of the venerated scholars of the group talked about Rumi’s teachings, about the importance of the individual mind – and not blindly following ill informed doctrine.

He said that in the Qur’an, there is no justification for violence of any kind. Rumi advocates love in every manifestation ~

After the address there was then fifteen minutes of the most amazing chanting, and then the Whirling Dervishes walked in. By this stage there must have been about 250 people in the hall, who’d come to watch.

The Dervishes began their ritual – it’s not a dance, it is a very disciplined religious ceremony – and I found it to be completely mesmerising. I filmed a terrific sequence.

This was not some tourist event by the way, this was the real deal. Those who were in attendance were worshippers and followers of Rumi. We were the only blow-ins.

I will write a separate blog about the Whirling Dervishes – what they do, and the significance of it all – in another post in a few days.

Tomorrow I interview a descendant of Rumi, a woman who keeps his philosophies and teachings alive in this modern world – and then we fly to Konya, the spiritual heart of Turkey – the headquarters for Sufis, the mystic tradition of Islam.

It’s going to be a busy few days coming up!

I don’t scam easily.

I’ve traveled a lot, and I’ve met all kinds of scammers, but today they got me.

It goes like this –

You’re walking along the street. Up ahead is a shoe shine guy, with all his kit. Suddenly he walks off, but accidentally drops one of his brushes, without realising.

You, being a nice person, pick it up and catch up to him, and give it to him.

The shoe shine guy of course is incredibly grateful, and as a gesture of good will offers to shine your shoes for free.

In this instance, my wife was wearing dirty boots – accumulated over two weeks of walking the Via di Francesco in Umbria.

Oh, she says, I need my boots cleaned.

So the shoe shine guy cleans her boots.

And then he demands money.

I had walked away by this time, and didn’t realise that a financial transaction was in process.

The shoe shine guy was demanding 20 Turkish Lire..

Outrageous.

My wife, being a person of purer heart than me, gladly hands over a 20Lr note.

I meanwhile wander back, realise what’s happened, realise immediately that the whole thing was a set-up and a scam, and demand the money back.

My wife then starts abusing me and telling me I’m heartless, and she would gladly pay 20Lr for her boots to be cleaned.

I ask my wife if she knows how much 20Lr is worth in Australian dollars.

She doesn’t.

(It’s Au$10!)

I ask if she knows how much 20Lr is worth in Euros.

She doesn’t.

(It’s €7)

I tell her that for $10 Australian, I would not only clean her boots but I would polish her nails and clean her teeth as well.

She tells me that I should open my heart and be more generous.

I’m working on it…

Anyway, she said, it wasn’t a scam.

Later, as we were walking through a tourist area, the same thing happened.

A shoe shine guy accidentally dropped his brush in front of us as he was walking off – without him apparently realising.

I stepped over it and yelled out to him: Hey mate, you dropped your brush. You want your shoes shined?

My wife admonished me severely…

I’ve just posted on the Gone Tours website some preparatory information for those of you who are coming on the Indian tour – the Mother Ganga tour.

Here’s the link:
http://gonetours.com/2015/05/14/mother-ganga-tour-a-heads-up/

For those of you who are interested in joining us, please let me know soon. We will have to close it off shortly.

Waited until good light this evening to start filming –

Around the spectacular Blue Mosque.

Tomorrow we shoot Whirling Dervishes. I’m fascinated by their process, and the way it raises their vibrational energies. I am eager to learn more.

Feeling much better now. The coughing is almost gone – except for when I spoke to Ken Mitchell on the phone earlier this morning, and got myself into a coughing fit.

He reckoned I only cough before I tell a porkey….
(Cockney rhyming slang: pork pie = lie)

I told him he’s an old horse and cart…
(Cockney rhyming slang: horse and cart = fart)

Because of lousy internet in many of the places along the way, it was not possible to post all the shots I wanted to –

Also, it’s not possible for me to fully visualise the majesty of this walk. It was magnificent. Every day we climbed mountains and looked across valleys to distant farmlands and castles and villas and more misty hills and mountains – and we were often left speechless by the sheer beauty of it.

On this walk there wasn’t one ugly day – well, except for the day when I took my trousers off to adjust my brace.

That wasn’t pretty.

So here now is the first part of a small selection of shots that for me encapsulate the spirit of the tour –

They’re by no means the best shots I took – I’ll post a separate blog of the shots I like the most – but they document moments which hopefully will jog memories for us.

Also, I missed a lot of shots of stuff that happened which I wasn’t witness to – Patty for instance riding down a freeway embankment on a wheely bin. Wish I’d photographed that! But when that happened I was climbing halfway up a mountain trying to get around a timber blockade.

Anyway, this is the first part of these disparate shots – and some are desperate too! – and as I say, they haven’t been selected for their photographic virtuosity, but to tell stories that mean something to those of us who did the walk…

I’ll do the second half in the next day or so…

I would like to add: To Ken, Angela, Peter, Marie, Patty, Ivan and Giovanna, Elena, and Jennifer, I’d like to thank you for making this tour something that will live with me forever.

I needed a slow day today.

Slept nine hours, and my coughing has now virtually ceased. All I needed was rest.

Spent the morning checking locations – in particular at the Blue Mosque, one of the most famous Islamic mosques in the world.

Across from the Blue Mosque is the Hagia Sophia, one of the oldest religious structures in the world –

Had lunch then with Zeyno and her business partner Fatih, and we discussed the coming days, and our trip to Konya at the end of the week. Here’s what we ate: Chicken, chicken, chicken, lamb, and bread.

Guess which is which…

The chicken was flamed grilled, and the bread was freshly baked from a clay oven under the restaurant. It had to be pierced with a knife to let the steam out. Delicious!

On Thursday night we’re to film some Whirling Dervishes, and on Friday I’m to interview a distant descendant of Rumi, the 14th century poetic and mystic. Friday as well we fly to Konya, which is regarded as the spiritual heart of Turkey.

This afternoon Jennifer and I went for a walk around the city, and I took some photos in the bazaars. Unfortunately I didn’t find the bazaar very interesting visually, but what caught my eye were some of the clothing models outside the stands and stores…

Oh alright – here are a couple of boring bazaar shots…

Tomorrow we begin filming – looking forward to getting into it!

The Assisi Tour is now over, and we’re starting to think of the next one –

The Mother Ganga Tour, in September.

We are now finalising arrangements – organising hotel rooms and flights – and there are still places available – so if you wish to come and you haven’t already placed a deposit, please get in touch and I can connect you with my travel agent Duncan Ford, who handles the money.

Here’s my email:
bill@gonetours.com

The Indian Tour promises to be amazing – check the website for the itinerary.

http://gonetours.com/mother-ganga-tour-sept-2015/

Looking forward, we’re considering a Celtic Camino next April / May 2016 – where we walk around various “rings” on the west coast of Ireland, culminating at the spectacular Cliffs of Moher.

Whether we do that tour or not will depend on the level of interest.

Remind me never to do this again.

Finish a tour, then hop on a plane and go somewhere else.

You really need time to settle, take stock of what just happened, get your energy reserves back, and allow your soul to catch up to your corporeal body.

In my case, my coughing got worse towards the end of the walk, and by the time I got to Assisi I was no fun to be around. I would get into a coughing fit which would be hard to stop.

I just needed rest time.

I didn’t get it. We headed straight to Rome, and then to an early flight to Turkey. Got off the plane, had 45 minutes rest at the hotel, then had to hop in a taxi to meet with the lovely lady who is organising our time here for the PGS film.

Her name is Zeyno, and I will tell you more about her later. She runs a karmic healing centre in Istanbul, and uses past lives to find out what’s wrong with you, and how you can sort yourself out.

Zeyno was introduced to us through Joni Patry, in Dallas – the Vedic Astrologer.

Dallas continues to have resonances – and we’re not finished with Dallas yet, not by a long shot.

Slept nine hours last night, dosed up with medicines from Marie (thank you Marie!) and woke this morning feeling half human. Which is better than the quarter human I’ve been feeling these past few days.

Today will be a slow day. We have an interview lined up at about 3pm, and I want to scout some filming locations, in particular the Blue Mosque.

The tour is starting to resonate. I need time to reflect on what we did. It was an intense and profound walk, amidst all the fun and laughter, because there was plenty of that. But the walk itself, its meaning, and some of the places we visited, will stay with me a very long time.

I thought I would post this photo I took this morning at breakfast. These two Muslim ladies came in, with their identical handbags. I asked them for a photo, and of course I wanted to position them a particular way. I made the mistake of touching one of them on the arm, to put her in position. It was like I’d touched her with a cattle prod.

Urgh…

I’ll have to readjust to Middle Eastern mores.

Love the shot though…