The Town of Sille

This highly photogenic bridge is definitely worth getting to early to get some shots as the light first starts tumbling into the ravine. Spoiler: it’s not actually as big as it looks. It wasn’t meant to transport people but was actually a part of an aqueduct. If you climb up top you can see where water once came through a short tunnel before crossing the bridge.

It is believed that the original church on this site was founded by the mother of Constantine the Great (327 AD), though the current building is the result of a great many renovations and additions. During WWI it was used as a military depot as well as a hospital for people needing artificial limbs.

The Church has been well restored within the last decade and is used primarily as a museum, though, according to a Catholic nun we spoke to, priests will still give the odd service in the building.

For whatever reason this little and rather insignificant chapel has a number of different names. It sits on top of the hill above Aya Elena Kilisesi in a beautifully dilapidated graveyard. It commands a great view of the countryside and the town, as well as a view of the aforementioned Devil’s Bridge. The old chapel is now the Zaman Müzesi or ‘museum of time’ and holds a handful of very interesting items all centering on the theme of time. Ottoman clocks, astrolabs and the likes; some genuinely interesting things in the collection!

Many of Turkey’s major cities will have a nostalgic town nearby, popular for a Sunday morning breakfast and walk. Sille is definitely that for Konya. There are a number of breakfast places either in the town itself or on its edge with a view of the landscape that make for a great place to pass a couple hours enjoying a meal in a beautifully set little town.

As Sunday is the peak day for locals going out for breakfasts like this, expect that Sundays will be busier.

On the Southern slopes of the valley above the town there are the remains of a Cappadocia-like town carved into the rock. There are a number of churches, houses, and other such ruins set in the soft cliffs. Unfortunately the local government has closed these off putting up an insane amount of literal red tape making it impossible to get a decent photo. On top of this, people seem to be ignoring the tape and going in anyways making the tape redundant as well as ugly.