Wednesday, February 1, 2012

In November...I went for a few weeks to visit Bangladesh and to visit family...I did not go out that much...but I had a chance to visit with my mother in law and sisters in law...and to eat very good Bengali food...but on the way back I had a chance to visit Istanbul in Turkey..it is a very beautiful city.it is very old and the streets was made with cobble stones..and the houses were very quaint....we only got to stay a few days..but during those two days..we did a lot..and my daughter Alia came from Switzerland to join us..we went on a boat ride...seeing the coast of the city...we went to Topaika Palace..which is the resident of the Sultan that ruled the Otoman empire...it was very beautiful..but within the palace was a section that held the relics of Prophet Muhammed PBUH..this included his tooth, his hair, his footprint, his clothing and his sword..also what stood out for me was it had Mose's staff that he used to split the red sea...and it turned into a snake...when the Pharouh and his magician tested him by turning their wands into snakes...his staff turned into a snake..and ate all the other snakes...we also saw Prophet Muhammad's daughter Fahtima's dress and her prayer rug...they had Muhammad's companion's Abu Bakr's sword..but I think it really impressed me was Mose's staff..it looked like a very old branch of a tree..I feel that it was there where he saw the burning bush and when he received the Ten Commandments...it was exciting for me...we saw other parts of the palace where we saw the Sultan's clothing..and very beautiful jewelery..such as diamonds and emeralds..sitting rooms..everywhere you looked there was Gold...then we went to the Blue Mosque to pray Juma prayer.very large domes and minerats.you see why they named it the Blue Mosque...because it is made with Blue tile..very beautiful Arabic Calligraphy adorned the walls..In Islam in the mosque..you are not supposed to show any images..so within the mosque..there is usually mosaic and art that is not figurative..We went very nice restaurants..the food was very delicious..Turkey is known for its bread and cheeses..also we had lentil soup...everywhere we had very nice bread...their bread is very large but hollow on the inside..we went out to the bazzars where my daughter did some shopping...a lot of the jewelery had the eye..that wards off evil..One thing that was truly beautiful that we saw..was the whirling dervishes..this was downtown Istanbul and we had to take a bus from our hotel...It took place in an old bath house..and it was lit by very low light..dervishes are sufis that is the mysticism of Islam...they were dressed in white with tall hats with white robes...and kneeling on white lamb's wool..in the background was very soothing music...and then they spun..and whirled around...their beautiful white skirts flowing from them..their hands outstretched..right hand out stretched upward towards heaven the left hand pointing to the earth...and they were spinning...it was very heavenly and serene...and they spun counterclockwise..representing the earth and the planets orbit in space..All this was very beautiful, because my daughter was there...she was not afraid to get lost...and did not mind going on the train to certain areas..and had a good sense of direction...all in all it was a beautiful trip