Travel Diaries: Madinah, Saudi Arabia; Makkah, Saudi Arabia

Travel Diaries Part 3: We took a flight from Istanbul to Madinah and arrived at their new airport. The Madinah airport is designed to give you the feel of Masjid-e-Nabwi. The ceiling architecture mimicks the umbrellas that are strategically placed through out the mosque. Until one has visited this blessed mosque themselves, it's difficult to describe it's beauty in words. We stayed in Madinah for eight days, which gave us plenty of time to meditate, as well as go out and do a bit of sight seeing. All the staff at our hotel were really kind and welcoming.

Finally, our last stop was Makkah, where we also stayed for eight days. The drive from Madinah to Makkah was about six hours. We saw countless camels along the way! Makkah, Saudia Arabia is where the religious pilgrimages take place (Umrah and Hajj.) After we had completed our tawaf (walking around the Holy Ka'bah seven times) and sahee (walking between Safah and Marwah seven times), we spent the rest of the seven days praying in the mosque, doing a bit more sight seeing and our last bit of shopping during our trip. One day we took a trip out to Ta'if, which is a mountainous region about an hour and a half out of Makkah. At the top of the mountains, we were greeted by some very frisky babboons!

Saudi Arabia is a desert so there were days when it was 40 degrees out there! Other than the dry heat, the trip was overall amazing and unforgettable.

Madinah Umbrellas

Madinah Museum

Madinah Museum

Masjid-e-Nabwi

Camels

Me petting a baby camel!

Madinah Airport

Masjid-e-Nabwi door

Mosque Entrance

A hungry and smelly cat my mom and I used to visit daily after every prayer =)

Ka'abah in Makkah

Baboons in Ta'if

Inside Haram (mosque)

Meeting more cats in Makkah!

Kaba'ah

Travel Diaries: Cappadocia, Turkey

In part 2 of my "Travel Diaries", I will be chronicling our time in Cappadocia. After spending two nights in Istanbul, we took a domestic flight to Cappadocia, where we stayed for one night, and two days. The city of Cappadocia is known for it's picturesque scenery. Most of the city is built into caves, (including many of the hotels). Although we did not stay in one of those, our hotel was still designed in such a way to give off a "cave vibe." We did, however, have a gorgeous view of the caves from the hotel dining hall terrace.

 

We had tour guides booked for both days of our trip. The one we had on day one was amazing. He was funny, friendly and taught us so much about Cappadocia's history. There was another family with us on our journey as well, who had come from Sydney, Australia. We exchanged contacts so we could keep in touch through e-mail and social media.

 

Cappadocia is world famous for their hot air balloon rides. They launch very early in the mornings, so you could watch the sunrise from up above. We were planning to check them out on day two, but unfortunately they got cancelled, due to extreme wind. The tour guide we had on day two was a bit rough around the edges! Other than that, we enjoyed seeing more of Cappadocia's beauty. Our day ended with a one hour hike through the valleys. I cannot even put into words how beautiful it was. It was unreal, and looked like a painting had come to life. Finally, we said goodbye to Cappadocia and took the last flight back to Istanbul. We stayed in Turkey for another 5 days, before embarking on our journey to Madinah, Saudi Arabia. (Stay tuned for Part 3 of my "Travel Diaries", where I will tell you about Madinah).



Hotel Dining Hall, where we often saw cats hanging out!

                                    

Dining Hall overlooking Hotel Swimming Pool

 

Hotel pool during the day



Hotel Courtyard #1



Hotel Courtyard #2



Turkish culture is known for their teas. Here is one of the first apple teas I was served in Cappadocia. Yummy!

 

Stray dogs overlooking the city

Hike #1

Hike #2

Hike #3

Panoramic view from our hike

                                    

Cave restaurant where we had our last meal


 

Travel Diaries: Istanbul, Turkey

A few months ago I took a beautiful trip with my parents to Istanbul, Cappadocia, Makkah and Madinah. Our very first stop was Istanbul, where we stayed for about a week. One of the first sounds I heard there, was the sound of the adhan (call for prayer), right from our hotel room. It was one of my favourite things about our trip. How I miss it! We heard it five times a day, right before every prayer. Istanbul is known as the "city of mosques." There are mosques everywhere! There was even a very small and modest one right across the street from our hotel. Another nickname for Istanbul is the "city of cats!" It is overrun by stray cats! There is even a famous kitty that lives inside of the Hagia Sophia museum, who has his own instagram account. =) I spoke with locals asking them who takes care of all these strays (FYI.. there are also stray dogs.). Our tour guide told me that locals and tourists are responsible for them. If you look closely, you can even see that some of the dogs have tags on their ears. These tags indicate that the dogs have been vaccinated, vet checked, and released back onto the streets. (Similar to the North American Trap, Spay/Neuter, and Release program). In my experience, I never once saw anyone be mean to any of these animals. They live peacefully amongst the humans and nobody seems bothered by them. It was really heartwarming to see how kind everyone was to these animals. Amongst the stray animals and mosques, we also saw most of the main tourist spots of Istanbul; The Hagia Sophia, the famous Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, Topkapi Palace and such. The weather was a bit cold, so we had to take our winter clothes with us. Besides the cold, it was a lovely trip Allahumdulillah. We came back with various souvenirs of course, including Turkish Delight! Which as it turns out, is actually from Turkey, not Narnia! ;)

Blue Mosque

 

Inside Blue Mosque

Inside Hagia Sophia, featuring cat! =)

CATS! =)

Continental Breakfast at Our Hotel

Pierre Loti Look Out Point

 

Turkish Delight! My favourite!