Rumi and Hafez
From Konya to Shiraz
From the fervour of mysticism to the secret of the ghazal
The road that stayed open between Anatolia and Fars for centuries: from the green dome of Konya to the two orange gardens of Shiraz.
- Countries
- 2
- Stops
- 8
- Events
- 4
- Distance
- 2468 km
The story of the route
No single person walked this route. It is a road that caravans and students and dervishes and merchants used for centuries, and at each end lies a grave that became a place of pilgrimage without anyone deciding it should.
Why Konya? Because Rumi spent his last thirty years there and wrote the Masnavi there. And why Shiraz? Because Hafez never left it. One man was in motion all his life and died far from home; the other saw the whole world from a single city. Two different relationships with the world — and that is what makes the route.
A hundred years separate them. It is unlikely Hafez had not read Rumi; Rumi never read Hafez, who had not yet been born. What travelled from Konya to Shiraz was not a text but a register: the fervour that is unmediated in the sema is veiled in Hafez's ghazal, and there it is called rendi.
The eight stops on this road — Konya, Sivas, Van, Tabriz, Hamadan, Kashan, Isfahan, Shiraz — were never mere waypoints. Each had a madrasa, a bazaar, a khanaqah. The road was itself a teaching institution.
- Konya
- Rumi
- fervour
- sema
- mysticism
- Shiraz
- Hafez
- rendi
- ghazal
The route map
Full map- Cultural places 9
- Events 4
- Experiences 4
Stations
Each station is a city with something to see; the distances are computed from real coordinates.
- 1
- 2
Sivas
Türkiye444 kmThe Seljuk madrasas. Central Anatolia, high and open.
- 3
Van
Türkiye566 kmOn the shore of Lake Van, at altitude. The winters are hard and the road closes.
- 4
Tabriz
Iran256 kmThe first big city past the border. The largest covered bazaar in the world.
- 5
Hamadan
Iran418 kmAncient Ecbatana, and Avicenna's tomb. From here the road turns south.
- 6
Kashan
Iran283 kmThe desert edge, the Fin garden, and the carpet and coppersmith workshops.
- 7
Isfahan
Iran149 kmThe bridges of the Zayandeh Rud and Naqsh-e Jahan. Caravans stopped here for days.
- 8
Shiraz
Iran352 kmThe end of the road. The Hafezieh and the Saadieh are both here, at opposite ends of the city.
Hafez's room
Events on this route
EventsMehr Poetry Night
A reading of Hafez's ghazals at Talar-e Hafez. Free entry.
Hafez Day
An evening of poetry and song at the Hafezieh, with Hafez scholars and singers.
2 sessions
The Song of Shiraz
Traditional vocal performance set to Hafez's ghazals, with setar and tombak.
Sama Night
A sama night in memory of Rumi, with daf and ney.
Experiences along this route
Experiences- Craft
A Kashan coppersmith's workshop
Half a day at the bench with a master who has been doing the same work for thirty years.
Kashan
- Food
A Shirazi table
Kalam polo, ash-e sabzi and Shirazi faloodeh, in a Qajar house in the old quarter.
Shiraz
- Local experience
A sema evening in Konya
The sema ceremony at the lodge, with an explanation beforehand of what each movement means.
Konya
- Walk
A night walk at the Hafezieh
Ninety minutes after sunset, with ghazals read beside the tomb. No coach, no large group.
Shiraz