We went to visit the very old mosque (1484) – one of the oldest surviving mosques in Albania – which was, of course, closed!
It looked as if it welcomed visitors, but just not at this time!
Not to be defeated, I looked up the prayer times in Albania and we decided to wait for half an hour in the shade to see if it would open at 12:36, the time of the next prayer:
Sure enough, near the time, a man with a key appeared together with a number of other men (and one woman) who washed at the nearby taps and went in. I asked permission to go in, and was welcomed – prayers had not started yet so I was able to take a couple of low-key photos of the simple but lovely interior:
And then we sat outside again, waiting for the call for prayer. Here is the second half for you – one of the most beautiful voices I have heard.
That call was indeed transporting (videography worthy of a BBC doc)
M is enjoying doing the videos – they convey a lot in a different way from still pictures
Lovely azaan!!
It was beautiful
Intrigued by the injunction to all good muslims to not ‘throw candles’. Am I missing something.
I had missed that entirely and have absolutely no idea what candle throwing entails. Definitely undesirable but a tad mysterious
Think the injunction was not to show your faith THROUGH candles (Christian practice) and kissing walls (Jewish practice ie the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem ….)