marhaba morocco!

I keep pinching myself in disbelief... I get to live here!

sometimes i have to pinch myself

because it's just so beautiful, it can't be real...

we begin the journey with an old mosque

Our plan was to drive up through Edirne, down to Gallipoli, and cross the Dardanelles by ferry to Anatolia.

anatolia's first mosque

Among the many ruins of churches stand the remnants of the Seljuk Ebul Menuçehr Camii, the first mosque built in Anatolia. The shade inside was a welcome retreat from the relentless sun, where several crag martins darted in and out in a blur.



From its row of elegant pointed arch windows, you can see Armenia, just across the valley.

shadows of white

the beauty of the written word

I had once come across a set of photographs in an in-flight magazine, of a beautiful mosque with giant swashes of calligraphic text painted on its walls, and these images rooted in my mind as something I needed to see in person. Over time I had forgotten about those inky loops, knots, and scimitar-tails on white— they had nearly left me until I visited Edirne and remembered that this was precisely the place where the mosque stood. I didn't know the name of the mosque, and so we hopped from one beauty to the next until we found the Eski Cami.

The night was cool and tinted orange from a nearby streetlamp. It was quiet, another world from Istanbul, and from the gate of the Eski Cami, I spied the alifs and laams of the name of God, like black spears pointing to the sky. My heart leapt in my chest, as I knew I had found what I was looking for.



The humble Eski Cami was built in the early 15th century during the Ottoman Empire, and it truly is set apart from other mosques in Turkey by its distinctive calligraphy. I needed to see the Eski Camii in daylight, and I needed to sketch it.

the magnificent mimar sinan

The Selimiye Camii in Edirne is believed by many to be the masterpiece of chief Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, the Michelangelo of the Ottoman Empire. Mimar Sinan built over 300 structures from mosques to bridges, under the patronage of three sultans.



The imposing, stoic exterior offers no hint of the light and colour that lives inside that great dome.

calligraphy and geometry

As Edirne is a mere two hour drive from our doorstep, it seemed a perfect place for a weekend getaway. I've always been curious about Edirne— a Thracian city near the Greek and Bulgarian borders, once capitol of the Ottoman Empire before Constantinople, host to an annual oil-wrestling festival, and famous for its fried liver and fruit-shaped soaps (this last one baffles me).

Being a former capitol of the Ottoman Empire, the city boasts several stunning mosques, the most famous of which was built by Mimar Sinan himself (often referred to as the Michelangelo of the Ottomans): the Selimiye Camii. This, however, is the Üç Şerefeli Camii, a slightly smaller but no less grand mosque built in the 15th Century. What amazes me, is that as the Renaissance was raging in Europe, this was happening here:



While the human body was studied through to its bones and captured in all its glory by Renaissance artists, Muslim artists turned to the beauty of the written word and mathematics. Sentient beings were seldom represented in Islamic Art at the time, as it was believed by some that the depiction of sentient beings was a form of idolatry, though beautifully rendered humans and animals were brought to life in miniature paintings. Elegant calligraphy and dazzling geometric patterns flowed across the surfaces of mosques, while churches in Europe commissioned paintings and frescoes of Biblical figures to adorn their walls.

blue beauty

Another humble beauty is the previously blogged about Rüstem Paşa Mosque, a favourite of mine. The patterns and colours of the Iznik tiles which cover the walls of this little mosque are beyond exquisite, and the quiet space offers breathing room in this hectic city of nearly 20 million.