Last week was the Eid Al-Adha, a religious holiday for more than 1.7 billion Muslims. The holiday falls in the 10 month of the Islamic calendar and lasts for 4 days. During this time Muslims from around the world make Hajj,the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Islam requires all Muslims to perform Hajj at least once in their lives. For all of Saudi Arabia it is a week off from work to celebrate the holiday. During this time M.E. and I went to Turkey, 4 days in Istanbul and 4 days in Cesme, a coast town on the Mediterranean.

This post will be short, while I catch-up on a few things,  I will have more details on our travels and lots of pictures in future posts.

We were fascinated by how fashionable women in Istanbul dressed. It was completely different from what we have seem here in Saudi, where all Saudi women must wear a black Ababa which looks like a choir gown and burqa that covers the head and face with a slit for their eyes.  In Istanbul the women were very stylish, they wore a tesettur and usually a colorful head scarf. A tesettur (translated means modest dress) is a light fitted cover-all topcoat. Turkey is 99% Muslim but Turkish society is very modern, European dress styles have been very influential. There is a vibrant, young, urban middle class that is changing the look of Islamic styles.

We sat in a park for about a half an hour one afternoon, it was the holiday and many families were out enjoying the afternoon sun. I had my camera resting on my knee taken pictures as folks walking by. We thought these outer topcoats were very cool. Pay attention to the details on the topcoats, some were fitted, including buttons, zippers and bright color combinations. We also noticed the bulge in the back of the women scarves, we asked about it and was told that Turkish women traditionally have very long hair. Check it out.

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a