Visiting Turkey

By Raquel Lesser on August 22, 2016

I was awakened by a siren’s voice full of beauty, an everlasting tone that was foreign and unknown to me. I unraveled the silky grey curtains to release the exotic blue mosque right across the street from my hotel. The sky was dark but the prayers were hopeful. The words I couldn’t understand but the beauty of the sounds were luring me in. It was only the first day and I had fallen in love with Turkey.

Across the street from our hotel was the Bazaar. It was a marketplace with stunning art; each one was so unique with fragile scriptures of Arabic. I had an urging desire to understand the language, but I didn’t.

I’ve only learned one word from this spiritual journey and it is Su, meaning water. Which is very helpful to know when you are in the Middle East. The Middle East in the summer is boiling hot and that summer we were in Turkey was no exception.

My family and I went on a tour bus to many different places. One of the places we stopped at was a fish market. The market was filled with all kinds of goodies like belly dancer clothes or rugs. They were known for their rugs. There were stores where women would make carpets by hand. My parents even bought one, and they were expensive too.

We also looked at powerful and beautiful mosques, each one so delicate and wonderful. I felt a spiritual connection despite what was going on in Turkey. In Turkey at the time there were riots on the streets but we never witnessed any while we were there. We were too into the delectable food, such as the wonderful fish, cooked fresh.

We went to three places in Turkey, one of which was Istanbul. The other two were Cappadocia and Ephesus, all so different and magical. In Ephesus there were ancient Greek ruins. I learned they had their very own plumbing system. In Ephesus it looked like Greece because we were near the ocean.

Turkey is an amazing, beautiful country and in the past I would have liked to move there but I don’t like their governments’ political views. I am glad I went to the country before it fell apart. Turkey forevermore will be one of my top favorite countries.

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