Followed up on my interest in whirling dervishes and found myself at their monthly public spectacle at a dervish master's tomb near Galata tower. 15 devotee performers (all beautiful and handsome) and three older masters in a small round walled area of the shrine floor. Devotional music following Turkish the classical system with each instrument improvising and no unifying melody as such (scales shifting up and down to my untrained ear sounded sort of cacophonous).

Very beautiful whiling (great tall hats and long flowing robes) and perfect precision where despite the fact that they were all spinning like graceful tops in a small space and their eyes appeared closed the master moved through the devotees effortlessly without a single outstretched arm batting him in the face. He would be great at Super Mario Brothers.

After the performance I stood outside wondering loudly about various aspects of the ceremony with three Frenchmen on the steps. A boisterous American woman from Michigan married to one of the masters named Carole greeted us and after a Q& A session extended us an invitation to visit their intimate private weekly devotion in another shrine in Uskudar on the Asian side of the Bosphorous in Istanbul.