Fez

Old Market, Nazareth, Palestine.

I captured this man during my first visit to Nazareth, walking between the authentic Arab Market.

His red tarboush (fez) is what caught my attention.

To me, it resembles unity.

Not a very long time ago, many men from this region wore the fez on top of their heads.

Today, we are a region more segregated than ever.

Our accents are now what differentiate us.

This is how divided we have become.

But this man, who currently lives in the occupied areas of Palestine (Israel) chose to keep his tarboush on top of his head.

Our Mother, Amman

By The amphitheater, downtown, Amman, Jordan.

A grass design that says ‘Our Mother, Amman’ with the Jordanian flag on the back left corner, and a street swiper, swiping the dust at the front right corner.

This photograph speaks to me a thousand words.

Without him, what will this image look like? Does he know the worth of his contribution? Or does he see this side of his image in my photograph? How much contribution do we need to do for his self-realization?

Cana of Galilee

I found this stunning photograph of a village in occupied Palestine known as Kafr Kanna or Cana of Galilee, I then found out that this photograph was captured in 1925 by a female Palestinian professional photographer who used to work between Lebanon and Palestine before the Israeli occupation. She captured beautiful images, and exhibited them during the first half century. Karimeh Abbud was her name and she was born in 1896 in Shefa Amer, Palestine, known as the Lady Photographer, she died in Nazareth in 1955.

The second photographer is another beautiful photographs of the Jordan River, also captured by Karimeh.

Today’s Guest for the wordpress daily prompt.

Kefr Kanna, Cana, Galilee, Palestine, female, PhotographerKarimeh Abbud, photographer, jordan, jordan river, photograph

Opposites can Attract

A photograph of a Church built-in 1889 next to a Mosque built-in 1824 in Tripoli, Lebanon.

We have been segregated and divided from one another, when we were actually made for each other. We have been made opposites when we are nothing but truly very similar. We have the perception of Opposition built into each one of us and we have interpreted our spiritual beliefs into differences. Once we know we have different religions we automatically check the different box and mark ourselves different from one another. And why is that? because we pray in a different temples, we pray in a different form, or because we might dress differently, and because we might eat and drink differently? But did we forget to look at our similarities, that seem to be much bigger than our opposites? Our similarity in believing in a bigger meaning to our existence, our similarity in believing in the existence of the Divine God (whichever you wish to Call It), our similarity in the stories recited to us, our similarity in our values, our similarity in the use of our temples, our similarity in practicing a ritual to connect us to spirituality, our similarity in giving to our community, our similarity in our pure existence. Our temples have been built one next to the another since centuries ago, people lived together in harmony, people still live in harmony, we still share the same food on the table, we celebrate and congratulate one another, we seek peace and love upon our lives and upon each other. It does not matter if there is a minority out there who believe we are opposites, who dislike our opposites, as long as we no longer do see it as a fraction, but instead we see our opposites as our attraction; the beauty in our diversity, the beauty of our natural differences, being attracted to love one another for our differences, the true beauty of accepting and loving our differences, to look into our differences as a possible continuation of our own misinterpretation. We live with opposites, our lives are incomplete without opposites, puzzles only fit when opposite. Opposites are beautiful.

In response to the Opposites Photo Challenge by wordpress.- Read more about Tripoli, Lebanon. 
Mosque, Church, Opposites, temple

Peace on Earth or Earth to Piecess 

To Earth Day 

I will be Cycling 4 Palestine today sending prayers to call for Peace on Earth. 

This photograph is from a collection exhibition called “Peace on Earth or Earth to Pieces” by Gerd Ludwig – How are you celebrating today? 

  

Quote of the day – On Love

rumi, love, zanzibar, safari, hot air balloon

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. Rumi

A little bit about my first day in Tripoli – Lebanon | عن رحلتي في طرابلس لبنان

Old, authentic, and a great exploration. I spent my first day in Tripoli just browsing around the city to take a glimpse of what it is about. Just to estimate the amount of time I need to explore, and it sure is one of those cities that need at least a good week to find the best of the best inside out. It has so much to offer, but things are a little buried under.

In my photos you will first see a great spacious exhibition area that used to hold alot of concerts in the past and theater shows. Today it is used as an automobile exhibition. We then went for a quick roam around the old city of Tripoli, where the market is, and the old mosques and churches reside. The architecture in Tripoli is brilliant, you will see the Islamic art, the arabesque, the Ottomans, very similar to architecture resemblance found in old Palestine.

We then had lunch at one of the most popular restaurants “Akra”, that can be visited for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. It serves traditional dishes of Tripoli and the Middle East like; Hummus, Fatet Hummus and Fool. After which we walked towards “Khan al Saboun” Soap house to shop for some hand made authentic soaps that are made with lavender, rose, olive oil and more scents and herbal spices. We then went for some Arabic ice-cream from the Mina area as we enjoyed watching one of the most beautiful sunsets to take place ever.

Best part of the day was the evening of it, we ended it at one of the most famous arabian desert making shop “Al Halab”, we had knafeh with chocolate and some lahmeh bajeen. Delicious.

Morning Diary 18 – My first day in Barcelona was a run to the beach area for son sun lovin’…

Friday, November 14 2014

Barcelona – Spain

After few weeks of chilly weather between Germany and Switzerland, arriving in Barcelona felt like breathing again. Not that I wasn’t breathing back in Switzerland, but even when you’re a little cold, you hardly take a deep breath in that draws a natural smile all the way from your heart to your face. There is a little extra something about a weather that calls upon you for a quick suntan, and that is exactly what I did on my first day in Barcelona, walked between the authentic streets of Sant Antoni down the Rambla towards the beautiful Port Olimpic and Barceloneta.

Take a look at some of my photos while you listen to one of the best sons I stumbled upon in Barcelona for Gabriella Ferri, Remedios.

Morning Diary 16 – 24 hours in Zurich Switzerland – Part 1

Monday, November 10th 2014

Zürich – Switzerland

At this point and stage, I was just living, I let go of all my boundaries, and I decided not to plan my trip in Zürich, but to just join my beautiful friend who was very generous to take me around. Zürich is breathtaking, similar to Solothurn but much bigger and more cosmopolitan. Life is Zürich tempted me, and in my mind all I can imagine is living there in one of their guild houses, on the last floor with their gothic windows overlooking the cities lake and busy streets and night lights…

Healing thoughts: We live in a random life of a cycle that keeps rotating rotating and rotating until it stops… And who knows where it will stop.. It’s like gambling, you can live all your life practicing to predict where you will stop but even if you predict… it will stop anyway… Why bother? Why spend so much time searching for ways to predict ? What will it change ? What kind of preparations will be useful ? Just go round and round until it stops and your destiny is your destiny … Running from or to it will not help you form anything … Just be.. Be yourself, fill your life with the presence… Fill it with the instruments available to you today, fill it with the joy that is around you… The real joy is the joy of ones self satisfaction of nothingness. What is yours will always be yours and what goes away from you was never yours. So Believe… Breath and Be.

Morning Diary 15 – Solothurn… A fairy town, baroque medieval village in Switzerland

Saturday, November 8th 2014

Solothurn, Switzerland

Where do I start from; for the love of architecture ? this town is breathtaking. It is all about the details, about the little pretty things, it is colorful, full of authentic colors, and beautiful people walking around, you would sense they should be in some sort of a costume, but they are not. The tiny shops, the bicycles, the flowers, the windows, the doors, the river… I kept wondering how do the people live here? It is such a small city, but it brings happenings into your heart, unless it is because I haven’t explored the outside of the center. Anyway, if you ever visit Switzerland, try your best not to miss visiting this unforgettable city that is just about 2hours away from Zürich by train.