The Call to Prayer
27Oct2008 Filed under: Istanbul Author: Paul Posted at 1:58 pmFive times a day there is a call to prayer. Loudspeakers blare across the entire city letting Muslim worshippers know that it is time to pray.
We were outside the blue mosque at noon when one of these calls went out.
The call to prayer is a man singing in Arabic. The song echoing across the city is hauntingly beautiful and somehow to us it sounded full of pain and longing. It really is powerful to hear.
It is amazing how different Turkey is from where we live — how foreign and strange. But foreign and strange is not a bad thing, I am glad we are able to experience this at least for a week!
6 Responses to “The Call to Prayer”
Leave a reply
Time Differences
All blog postings reflect Hawaiian time. Add six hours for both Toronto and Indiana.
Travel Dates:
Toronto, Canada — May 24 - May 31, 2009
Elkhart, Indiana USA — May 31 - June 8, 2009
All blog postings reflect Hawaiian time. Add six hours for both Toronto and Indiana.
Travel Dates:
Toronto, Canada — May 24 - May 31, 2009
Elkhart, Indiana USA — May 31 - June 8, 2009
Our Pictures
Kaptn Krunch
October 27th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
So was it like RS with the sound of prayer in the background piercing the silent morning air?
Paul
October 27th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
KK, it was almost EXACTLY like that haha. For those of you who aren’t nerds, RS = Raven Shield. A game where you are an elite fighting force..blah blah blah.. But there’s one level where you’re in the middle east and you can hear this singing in the background and it actually DOES sound a lot like what we hear 5 times a day here.
Tracie Murakami
October 28th, 2008 at 6:04 am
J forwarded me your email. I love reading your blog when I’m at work. It’s so funny and entertaining. It’s helps me get through the drudgery of work.
Jamie
October 28th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Bob is constantly drooling over the food like he has eaten in days. We loved your CNN comment…hope you voted!!
Paul
October 28th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Tracie: Wow awesome, I’m glad J forwarded our blog to you! Yes the blog does take some time, but to us it will hopefully function like a great travel journal for us to refer to in the future.
We should have done this earlier for some of our other trips because for a lot of them, we have photos to look at but we didn’t remember exactly what we did every day. Hope you and Steve and the kids are doing well!!
J: We sent in our absentee ballots already! Yeah most of the meals we’ve had have been really great. Tonight though we messed up and overslept and missed dinner. We had to make do with a cheese sandwich which was really good and a whole bar of Turkish chocolate. Nothing says nutrition like dark chocolate with almonds!
robin
July 1st, 2010 at 10:34 pm
just stumbled up on this blog. I am going to Istanbul in august so its great to read what there is to offer. But what the lonelyplanet travel guide didn’t mention was the call to prayer.. and i am staying in the old city… Thank god i have earplugs with me or i will be a walking zombie