Haji Bektash Veli Complex

About this place

For close to seven centuries this modest lodge on the edge of the Anatolian plateau was the world headquarters of the Bektashi order, whose teachings travelled from here to the Balkans and into the barracks of the Janissaries. Its founder, the Khorasan-born mystic Haji Bektash Veli, died here, by the most common dating, around 1271. The dergâh was shut with every other Sufi lodge in Turkey in 1925 and the order decamped to Tirana; the buildings did a spell as an agricultural school before restoration and reopening as a state museum in 1964. The irony is that the same state now keeps it, and lets you in for nothing. The complex is laid out as three courtyards, each a step further into the sacred. The first holds the great gate and the Üçler fountain. The second was the working heart of the lodge: the Lion fountain of 1554, whose marble lion was sent from Egypt in 1853, the dervish kitchen with its famous black cauldron, the guest rooms and the meydan hall where ceremonies were held. The third is the Pir Evi, with Haji Bektash's tomb under a dome capped by a lead-clad octagonal roof and, beside it, that of Balım Sultan, who reorganised the order in the early 16th century. Side rooms show dervish robes, crowns and tools, and an Atatürk corner recalls his overnight stay in the town in December 1919 on the way from the Sivas Congress to Ankara; the district's Bronze Age to Roman finds are in the same directorate's small archaeology and ethnography museum in the town. Getting here is a deliberate choice, because it is on the way to nowhere. From Göreme it is about 55 km north-west via Nevşehir and Gülşehir, roughly an hour by car, a little more from Ürgüp, which is how most Gulf visitors do it. Dolmuş minibuses run from Nevşehir bus station to Hacıbektaş in about an hour; organised tours rarely come. Break the drive at Gülşehir, where the frescoed church of St John and the rock-cut Açık Saray fill a pleasant half hour and turn the trip into a proper day out. This is a living pilgrimage site, not a silent museum: Alevi families move quietly through the tomb, leaving candles and vows, so dress modestly, take your shoes off in the türbe and keep voices low. Paths are paved and level, fine for a pushchair, though small children will be done in half an hour. On 16-18 August each year the town swells with hundreds of thousands for the annual commemoration, which is either the most memorable visit of your trip or the day you cannot park, depending on temperament. In winter closing tends to come earlier and the plateau wind bites; in August the trees of the third courtyard are the only shade.