Hello,

We'll be in Istanbul for 2 days (through a cruise) and wish to see the Whirling Dervishes.
I'm looking for places where we can see them, any information and advice will be greatly appreciated.

Is there a tour company we can book through?

thanks in advance.

I think there are a couple of places--one in a restaurant in the train station and the most authentic one (unfortunately also the longest and most repetitive) in a sort of temple for the sect not too far off the area where Istaklil Caddesi nears its terminal end and you take the tunnel down to the harbor. Sorry I can't be more specific--my notes on this are unavailable. But your hotel will likely be able to arrange things for you. We just paid at the door and walked in to the more authentic one which I think scheduled performances only on certain days. The other one at the train station is probably more touristy and likely scheduled daily.

When we were in Istanbul we attended a performance called "Dances of Colors" that was a variety of regional folk dance of Turkey. One portion was whirling Dervishes.

I looked at the brochure that I kept, but there is no contact information. We bought our tickets while visiting the Basilica Cistern, and saw posters in many of the ticket /travel shops in the Sultanahmet area.

The performance was well worth an evening. Perhaps you can contact a major hotel or travel agent in the area by email to see if these performances are still given. The theater was on the main street, near the Blue Mosque.

We saw a performance which takes place on Sunday afternoon at Galata Mevlevihanesi. We asked our hotel to buy us tickets in advance since there doesn't seem to be a way to prebook except by going to the place and getting the tickets. Note that there are more tickets than seats so get there early!

Oh how fascinating. I want to see this sometime too!

thanks for the post.

gruezi

We'll be also soon in Istanbul and wished to attend Sema in Galata Mevlevihanesi.
Our hotel, yday, sent us a msg mentioning that this place is under works and that they (Mevlevi Hanesi) dont know when they'll reopened
(September or october).
There is no tour company in charge for reservations but our hotel was ready to do it for us.
They suggested to attend Sema in Sirkeci station. I doubt that wwe shall take this offer as it seems quite touristy....

We just got back from a 3 week trip to Turkey and Romania.
We saw the Whirling Dervish at the train station in Istanbul. An hour performance, first music, then the whirling..very interesting..here is the website. I called directly and made a reservation and we paid for the tickets when we got there.. expensive 35 lira pp (about 35 dollars)
here's the website

http://www.istanbullife.org/whirling...y-sirkeci.html

We saw the Whirling Dervish a couple of Wednesdays ago at the Sirkeci Station. It was very crowded and arriving 20 mins early meant we were in the back row (5 rows back) and couldn't see that well. We ended up standing for most of the performance. We booked through our hotel. My guide book says that there is a performance every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, all starting at 7.30pm.

There is also a restaurant called "Dervish" where there was a Whirling Dervish performing every night for the 3 nights that we were there. It is on the park side of the road between the Blue Mosque and the park (between the Blue Mosque and the Agya Sophia), and on the left as you faced the Blue Mosque from the park. Obviously more of a tourist attraction but enough to get a feel.

If anyone is in Edinburgh this Friday/Saturday, the world's leading group of Whirling Dervishes and musicians can be seen here as part of the International Festival.

wanted to make it clear that I reserved tickets BEFORE we left the states. There is a very cheap phone service and the call cost, maybe, 8 cents.

www.onesuite.com

makes it totally worth it to call.

The lodge is on a street called Gallipdede caddeci in the Galata area and is closed for renovations.

However the acolytes put on a performance in a hall attached to platform no.1 at the Sirceci Railway station.

This is the real stuff.Your hotel should be able to make a reservation for you.If I remember right, they have two performances the first at 7.30 pm and another at 9.30 pm or so.The tourist information office at Sultanahmet should also be able to help with the reservations.

There are a couple of other shows,that promise the whirling dervishs, but be warned that they are not the genuine thing.

Rite.Imade,yesterday, through our hotel in Istanbul, bookings, for 7.30 pm show, in Sirkeci station for 70 YTL for two people. Hotel also said that Galata is closed for renovation and had no idea when it will reopen (sept/oct ?)

I thought I'd just share what I thought of the performance I saw on Friday. It consisted of about 40 minutes of music then about 40 minutes of music with the whirling dervishes. It was mildly interesting but I'm not sure I'd recommend it and wouldn't go again, for 2 reasons I think.

First, I did feel slightly uncomfortable - I'm not sure it's the sort of thing which should be performed for others' entertainment. It is of course basically a religious ceremony.

Second, it's actually a bit dull to watch (as I expect our religious ceremonies would be if anyone were to watch them as a performance). There was a lot more stately bowing than whirling ! The music was also very monotonous to western ears and quite hard for the untrained ear to appreciate.

I think I would have got just as much out of it by just reading about it.

Thanks for this. I am glad I read all the way to the last post, as I am headed to Istanbul in 10 days and would have just booked it if possible. $35 per person sounds like a fair amount of money...would hope that it was well worth it. Anyone else?

Hi Debwhite,
If you are also going to Cappadocia in this trip, you may consider Whirling Dervishes at 12th century Seljukian Caravanserai. Ticket price is 25 Euros p.person and you will need transportation to get there. Venue itself is great even some may not like Sema of Dervishes. As sait its a spiritual ceremony and I do not think anyone can whirl as Dervishes does

Happy travelling,

Murat