Sille Subaşi
The formerly Greek village of Sille can be visited as an excursion or detour on your way out Konya. In AD 327, St. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, built a small church here, the Aya Elena (Hagia Helena), which was extensively restored in the 19th century and again in 2013, when it reopened as a museum (Free Closed Mon.). The recent restoration preserved the beautiful frescoes, which date from the 1880s, and the gilt wooden iconostasis and pulpit. In the hillside above town are some Cappadocia-style rock-cut chapels with badly deteriorated frescoes and graves carved out of the stone floors. Still a working village complete with crowing roosters and the smell of manure, Sille has recently become a popular destination for the cafés housed in old homes along the stream running through the center of town. To get to Sille by car, follow Yeni Sille Caddesi out of the city from where it begins near the Dedeman Hotel, or board city bus 64 in front of Alaaddin Camii. If you're heading out of Konya in the direction of Ankara, look for the fabulous Seljuk portal at the entrance to the Horozlu Han, a former kervansaray (now housing a restaurant) near the four-lane beginning of Route 715.
