heading to the ancient seljuk capital of konya in the heart of turkey. in the days of the old silk road, the two main ways for traders to get from tbilisi to byzantium, modern day istanbul, were either by ship across the black sea or overland across turkey. back then, in the 12th and 13th centuries, konya was at the very center of the overland route, since it was the capital of almost all of modern day turkey. the wealth of its seljuk rulers was so heavily dependent on silk road trade that they did all they could to encourage it, building 150 or more splendid caravanserais for traders to stay in as they crossed turkey. just east of konya, agzikara caravanserai was built in the 1,230s. i'm shown around by local expert dr. aysil yavuz. wow, this is huge, i had no idea. caravanserai usually had both summer and winter quarters. the cool open courtyard was where the traders and animals stayed in the summer, whereas in the winter, they'd be housed indoors. there was generally a small mosque for the traders to pray in, and there'd be a hot turkish bath too. but