Ishak Pacha Palace, Dogubayazit, Turkey
Akko, Israel
Bahla Fort, Oman
Bahla Fort, Oman
Bahrain
Bahrain
Cojimar, Cuba
Rumeli Fortress, Istanbul
Jalili Fort, Muscat, Oman
Foto(shop) Friday – Forts & Castles
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NAME THAT COUNTRY Episode 52
Regla de Ocha, commonly known as Santeria, is a religion of the West African Yoruba people, who were brought to our mystery country as slaves.They continued to practice their native religion in secret, while also practicing the official religion of the country, Roman Catholicism. To the Yoruba, the two religions were essentially the same, with only superficial differences. Orichas, the deities of Santeria, are often interchangeable with Catholic saints. The center of Regla de Ocha in our mystery country is the town of Regla, just across the harbor from the capital city. There you can visit a Santeria museum and church and maybe witness a religious ceremony. A sculpture garden of Orichas in Regla is pictured above.
Can you name that country?
See below for answers.
Sinan the Architect
Suleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey
The great Ottoman architect Sinan had a long, illustrious career spanning most of the 16th century, the height of Ottoman power. His work pretty much set the tone for subsequent Ottoman architecture
Sinan’s parents were Christian Greeks and, as part of the system known as Devsirme, Sinan was taken as a young boy, converted to Islam and educated and trained to serve the empire. This system arose out of the practice of enslaving prisoners of war during the early years of the empire. By Sinan’s time, the system was meant as a way to balance power among the ruling classes by offering non-Turkic sons the opportunity to reach elevated positions.
Sinan was drafted into the elite Janissary corps of the sultan’s standing army.
There he served as a construction officer, working on bridges and fortifications.
In his extensive travels around the empire as a soldier he was exposed to many great buildings. He distinguished himself as a brilliant engineer and in 1538 was appointed by Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent as head royal architect. He served in that position until his death in 1588.
Sinan built over 360 buildings, including mosques, medersas (Koranic schools), mausoleums, hospitals, aqueducts, public baths, palaces and mansions. His mosque designs were influenced by the Hagia Sophia, with a hovering central dome and open, airy interiors. In his exteriors he used smaller domes and half-domes to draw the eye upwards to the central dome.
One of his first buildings was the Sehzade Mosque, built to mark the death of the sultan’s son.
Sehzade Mosque, Istanbul
Perhaps his best known building is the Suleymaniye Mosque, which commands a prominent spot overlooking the Bosphorus in Istanbul. Like many of Sinan’s mosques, Suleymaniye comprises a complex with schools, a hospital, baths, shops, a kitchen and stables, in addition to the mosque.
Suleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul
The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne was one of his late projects and is generally considered his masterpiece. It has some of the tallest minarets ever built and the dome equals that of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia in diameter.
© Nexus7 – Selimiye Mosque Interior Photo
Sinan is buried in a modest tomb of his own design in a garden near the Suleymaniye Mosque.
Want to see some of Sinan’s work in person? Click here to see Turkey tours.
NAME THAT COUNTRY Episode 51
Rosh Hanikra is a white chalk cliff on the northern Mediterranean coast of our mystery country. The sea has carved away the soft rock into deep grottos, which are accessed from 200 feet above by a very steep 2-minute cable car ride. About 200 meters of manmade tunnels connect the grottos. The clear blue-green water framed by the white rock is a lovely sight. When the sea is rough, waves crash into the grottos and swirl and froth, putting on quite a show. The whole area is a nature reserve and endangered Loggerhead sea turtles nest on the on Rosh Hanikra Beach. They can be seen riding the surf in the grottos and around the base of the cliff and, at night, laying eggs on the beach. Cute, pudgy Hyrax live in cracks in the cliff face and sun themselves on the rocks in cuddly cohorts.
Can you name that country?
See below for answers.
Poetry Corner: Sappho – Summer
The ancient Greek poet Sappho was born on the island of Lesbos around 620 BCE, probably to an aristocratic family. She was highly admired in antiquity and the library at Alexandria held nine volumes of her work. Only a fraction of her total body of work remains today, mostly in fragments.
SUMMER
Slumber streams from quivering leaves that listless
Bask in heat and stillness of Lesbian summer;
Breathless swoons the air with the apple-blossoms’
Delicate odor;
From the shade of branches that droop and cover
Shallow trenches winding about the orchard,
Restful comes, and cool to the sense, the flowing
Murmur of water.
Reprinted from The Poems of Sappho: an Interpretative Rendition into English, translator: John Myers O’Hara
Foto Friday – Turkey
Happy Friday! Let’s celebrate with some happy photos taken in Turkey by our friend Sue Alstedt. There are a couple from Istanbul but most are from the Bodrum area.
Top 3 Christian Sites on the Sea of Galilee
For Christian Pilgrims, the Sea of Galilee in the north of Israel, is as important as Jerusalem. The Sea of Galilee is actually a fresh water lake, known in Israel as Kinneret. Jesus was raised in Nazareth, which is in the region but not right on the lake. A great deal of his teaching was focused on the communities around the lake.
The top 3 Christian sites to visit there are: Continue reading
Foto Friday – Zoom 4
Chora Museum, Istanbul
Cienfuegos, Cuba
Athens Acropolis
Fez, Morocco
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem – photo by Noam Chen, courtsey of Israel Ministry of Tourism
Knossos Palace, Crete
Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene, Jerusalem – photo by Noam Chen courtesy of Israel Ministry of Tourism
Santorini, Greece
Spice Bazaar, Istanbul
NAME THAT COUNTRY Episode 49
The city of Konya in the south-central part of our mystery country is best known as the long-time home and resting place of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet, scholar and Sufi mystic. He is commonly known simply as Rumi or Mevlana, which means “our guide.” The Mevlevi religious order was formed by Rumi’s son in the years following his death. The order follows the spiritual teachings of Rumi, which include the Sema ceremony. Entranced participants spin and rotate as a group to connect with the fundamental spinning nature of the universe. This is the ceremony popularly known as the dance of the Whirling Dervish. The Sema can be viewed by visitors in Konya and other cities around the country.
Rumi’s tomb, pictured above, has been a place of pilgrimage for 700 years.
Can you name that country?
See below for answers.
The Ankh: What Does it Mean?
Temple of Hatshepsut, Luxor
Probably the most recognizable Ancient Egyptian symbol, the ankh hieroglyph represents eternal life. Egyptian gods and pharaohs were frequently shown holding the ankh or in close proximity to it. Fundamental life-giving elements, such as water, air and sun were often represented by the ankh. In some tomb paintings ankhs are shown pouring over the resident pharaoh from an upturned vessel or being blown into his mouth.
Kom Ombo Temple
tomb of Nefertari, Valley of the Queens
The origins of the symbol are lost to the mists of time but some suggestions are that it first represented the ever-holy sun sitting on the horizon, with the sun’s path stretching below; male and female reproductive parts, separated by the fruit of their union; or a sandal strap. It’s easy to see a connection between eternal life and the sun or the male, female and offspring, but a sandal strap, not so much. Imagine this – the loop of the ankh fits around your ankle; the arms of the ankh wrap around your foot, and there you have it, a sandal strap. The word for sandal strap ‘nkh’ was very similar to the word for life ‘ankh’ so the symbol was used to represent both words. That’s one theory anyway.
Click to see tours to Egypt, the birthplace of this powerful and enduring symbol.
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