Behind the scenes

A couple of weeks ago, we were treated to a behind the scenes view of the restoration and maintenance of the Baha'i Holy places in Israel. The talk, held at the Baha'i Centre of Learning in Perth, was given by Kamran Yazdani who is the Manager of the Restoration and Maintenance of Historic Buildings Department at the Baha'i World Centre, where he has been serving for 16 years. The audio-visual presentation he shared was one that he initially prepared for the 700 or so staff serving at the Baha'i World Centre in Haifa.



While we were on pilgrimage, we were told a bit about the restoration process at some of the Holy places, but we didn't fully appreciate the enormity of the work undertaken to restore and maintain these buildings. There are teams of dedicated staff serving at the Baha'i World Centre, each in their specialised fields. The gates shown above are an example of the many things fabricated in the various workshops, some items taking many months to complete. Being next to the coast, corrosion is a major problem and all steel work and fittings are being replaced with stainless steel wherever possible. Having done some blacksmithing, I appreciated the workmanship in pieces such as these gates - little did I know that they were forged from stainess steel which is much harder to work with than wrought iron and takes at least twice as long.

The prison cell of Baha'u'llah in Akka before restoration

The prison cell during restoration

The prison cell after completion of renovations

The building known as the Western Pilgrim House on Haparsim Street in Haifa

The Western Pilgrim House after completion of renovations

In the years between the two photos above, the old Western Pilgrim House had deteriorated to the point where restoration involved replacing the entire roof and floors and all the fittings.

All of the renovations undertaken of the Holy Places involve quite extensive research in order to be able to restore the buildings as closely as possible to the way they were during the time of Baha'u'llah. Often this involves painstakingly removing layers of paint, or newer layers of plaster or render in an attempt to find the original surface. Sometimes only fragments remained, which were then analysed to exactly reproduce the type of plaster or render that was originally used. On occasion, unknown features were revealed such as an original patterned stone floor or some ornate plaster work. Early photos are a precious resource as they often give clues as to how buildings and gardens originally looked. The garden in the courtyard of the House of 'Abdu'llah Pasha (a significant house occupied by Baha'u'llah's son and appointed successor, 'Abdu'l-Baha, for thirteen years), below, was rebuilt using one such photo.

An early photo of the House of 'Abdu'llah Pasha in Akka

The House of 'Abdu'llah Pasha after restoration and with newly replicated garden

Many hundreds of people are diligently serving at the Baha'i World Centre working on these projects. Some, such as a dedicated team of painters, serve for a few months each year, while others are there from between eighteen months to many years. So a very big thank you to all those who give their time restoring and maintaining these Holy Places.

The earth from above

Well, it's been a while, but we're back again. This time, some photos with a difference...all taken from altitude. Who won the battle for the window seats? In the end, we settled the matter fairly reasonably and mostly just took turns (though I still think Andrew got more turns than me)! Enjoy the view!

Leaving Perth on the 7th December headed for Singapore. You can see the city skyline in the distance and the South Perth foreshore in the foreground

Flying from New Delhi to Istanbul on the 2nd January. Andrew estimates that this photo was taken while we were flying over Pakistan.

You can't really make out very much in this photo, but the colours of dusk were nice! Taken as we flew above Iran on our way to Istanbul.

Leaving Istanbul for Tel Aviv on 7th January, we had a chance to view the very busy port area on the eastern side of Istanbul, the Sea of Marmara.

Crossing over Turkey we passed some mountainous terrain with a dusting of snow...

...but it got colder than that! A large part of southern Turkey was covered in snow...we were glad that we had only visited the north!

A lake amidst the snowy scenery

And then we had left the shores of Turkey and flew over the Mediterranean...

All the time just waiting for our first glimpse of Israel and hoping to see Haifa from the plane. Alas, it was too cloudy for that. As we flew over Tel Aviv preparing to land, the ground glistened with pools of water and black clouds rolled away in the distance. That was the first and last we ever saw of ominous weather, much to our relief!

More stories from Haifa

Seeing as we have now finished with the Turkish leg of our adventure (unless Andrew decides to add anything more!), I thought that I would continue on with some more pilgrimage stories and photos from Haifa...

Andrew sitting outside the Pilgrim Reception Centre soaking up some early morning sunlight!

The first thing that we had to do upon arrival in Haifa before our official pilgrimage programme was due to begin was to register at the Pilgrim Reception Centre located halfway up Mt Carmel, adjacent to the Shrine of the Bab. We began our first excited walk up the mountain at about 7:15am the next morning (Monday 8th January), so eager were we to be there at the opening time of 8:00am. Later on we found that we could manage the walk from our hotel to the Pilgrim Reception Centre within half an hour. Registration was simply a matter of collecting our name badges, a package of information containing our schedule for the next ten days and maps of Haifa and Akka. We then watched a brief audio-visual presentation which also gave us further information about the upcoming programme and some do's and dont's so that everyone could enjoy the experience as fully as possible.

The whole process of Baha'i pilgrimage is very orderly and carefully-planned, from the moment you make your request to come on pilgrimage, to the moment you set foot in Haifa about 3-5 years later! I had made my initial request for pilgrimage some time in 2000 and early in 2005 received an invitation letter saying that my name had come to the top of the waiting list. I was able to add Andrew's name to my request so that we could participate in everything together. With the letter we received a list of about 12 pilgrimage dates that we could select from, covering an eighteen-month span. We were lucky enough to receive our first preference, which thankfully allowed us the time to travel to India and Turkey beforehand.

Over 350 Baha'is from around the world arrive at the Baha'i World Centre every fortnight for their nine-day pilgrimage. This large group is further sub-divided into language groups - the predominant ones being English, Persian, French and Spanish. There are roughly ten of these smaller groups, with approximately 30-35 pilgrims in each one. It is in this smaller group that you make most of your visits to the holy places during pilgrimage. Each group has a pilgrimage guide who takes the group on their scheduled visits and explains some of the history and stories behind each place that is visited.

The Prison Barracks in Akka, where Baha'u'llah was held for 2 years. The cell on the right with the two windows close together facing towards the sea was Baha'u'llah's.

Apart from our scheduled visits to the Shrines of Baha'u'llah and the Bab and other sites such as the prison barracks in Akka, plenty of time was also allowed for individual visits to these places, as well as other places of interest such as the site for the future Baha'i House of Worship in Haifa. We also visited a number of houses that Baha'u'llah stayed in after He was released from the barracks in 1870 until His passing in 1892.

An obelisk marking the site for the future Baha'i House of Worship on Mt Carmel

On the second day of our pilgrimage, we were very warmly welcomed by the nine members of the Universal House of Justice - the democratically-elected international governing body of the Baha'i Faith. Each of these nine members shook hands with every single pilgrim, often stopping for some time to chat, just like old friends! This was a real highlight for me personally - these wonderful people, who occupy such a highly-respected and esteemed position in the Baha'i Faith, talked and mingled with all of us with such genuine warmth, affection and love, that one could not help but be inspired and touched by this seeming contrast of power and status combined with deep humility and sincerity.

The Universal House of Justice building is modelled on the timeless classic Greek architectural style of the Parthenon

On one of the last days of our pilgrimage, we were taken on a tour of the Baha'i administrative buildings that grace Mt Carmel in an arc just to the left of the Shrine of the Bab. Again it was wonderful to be inside these majestic, timeless buildings that are now thoroughly embedded into the mountainous landscape around them. It was interesting to hear that the Universal House of Justice building, the centrepiece of the arc buildings, was actually modelled on the Parthenon - a classic design built to withstand the elements, as well as architectural trends over the centuries! Each of the Baha'i administrative buildings extends for a number of storeys below the surface, so what you see is really just the tip of the iceberg so to speak! All of the Baha'i buildings in Haifa and Akka have been entirely funded by voluntary contributions from Baha'is throughout the world.

The Centre for the Study of the Texts.
Andrew used to call this building, somewhat irreverently, "the doughnut building", but later re-christened it "the polo-mint building"!

One of the other major highlights of pilgrimage, apart from just being surrounding by so much beauty, history and tranquility, was meeting other Baha'is from around the world. There were over 30 nationalities represented amongst the 300 pilgrims, including Baha'is from New Zealand, Sweden, Canada, Brazil, Malaysia, Spain, Gabon, Romania, Cameroon, France, USA, El Salvador, Seychelles, South Africa, Vanuatu, Ireland, Shetland Islands, Peru, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Chile, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Russia, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Thailand and New Caledonia, as well as dozens of Aussies! Being amongst people from almost every corner of the planet, united in one purpose, sharing the same beliefs and ideals, we really felt like we were part of a global family. It was something special to be able to cross barriers of language, culture, race, age and circumstance so easily...for us it was a chance to witness the unity and diversity of the Baha'i Faith in action!

The members of our small pilgrim group - Group C. There were Baha'is from Canada, USA, Sweden, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Australia in our group. Our pilgrim guide, the lady in the light blue jumper on the right, was Ursula Grossman, with Finnish-German heritage.

Bazaars, buses and baklava

OK...I'm afraid I just can't hold on any longer...I'm not trying to overshadow Andrew's impending narrative, I'm just trying to put off doing some school-work! More photos and stories from Turkey...

Wandering the cobbled streets of Sultanahmet at night-time was always a lovely experience...well, apart from being harangued by a multitude of carpet-shop owners and waiters doing their utmost to get passer-bys to come into their respective establishments!

We arrived in Istanbul late in the evening on Tuesday 2nd January. We went straight from the airport to our hotel and once we had dumped our bags in our room we took off again straight into the cold night air to find ourselves some dinner. We managed to locate a place fairly close by - a tiny little cafe with about three tables and a huge gas heater taking up most of the room inside! Here we tasted the first of what was to become our staple diet in Istanbul - chicken and vegetable kebabs. Istanbul was much, much colder than New Delhi. After the first night, we hurriedly dug out our gloves, scarves and beanies before we ventured outdoors again. The next day we decided to just explore the part of the city we were staying in...a thoroughly beautiful area called Sultanahmet, which is home to the major tourist attractions of Istanbul as well as most of the tourist accommodation. This part of Istanbul really felt like an old, exotic city: the cobbled streets, mosques and churches, dazzling shopfronts and the sounds of traditional music wafting into the night air late in the evenings really set the scene for what was a most enjoyable, though all-too-brief visit.

Crossing a large courtyard on the way from Sultanahmet to Fatih

On the third day, we decided to spend the morning walking to another part of the city called Fatih, where Baha'u'llah had spent four months in 1863, after being forced to leave Baghdad. We found some of the places that He had visited and spent some time just wandering around and taking in the sights. We came back to Fatih the next day, when we had an opportunity to visit one of the houses that Baha'u'llah actually stayed in during His time in this city. There we happened to meet a Baha'i family from Queensland who had just returned from their pilgrimage in Haifa and were stopping in Turkey en route to Australia - doing much the same as we were. We discovered from them that the weather had been terrible during their time in Haifa - apart from the first day of blue sky and sunshine, it poured down torrentially for the following nine days! This got us a little bit worried about the conditions awaiting us in Israel, but we ended up having all the luck with ten days of perfect weather!

Sitting outside a mosque in Fatih, we posed for a photo (I think we only took about three photos of ourselves together during our entire trip!).

On the way back from Fatih we stopped to look in the window of yet another sweet shop, but suprisingly we didn't go in (maybe because we hadn't actually finished the box of sweets that we had purchased earlier that morning!).

Yum...dozens of varieties of melt-in-your-mouth pastries and baklava! We resisted for once, but made up for it in Haifa where we bought a half-kilo box which we promptly polished off in about 2 days!

It was also on the way back from Fatih that we decided to venture into the Grand Bazaar to escape the biting cold of the elements outside. The place was huge and very different from our experience of market-shopping in India. We went in pursuit of cushion covers of a particular size and shape, but would you believe, couldn't find any - though we had many offers from shop owners who said they could whip some up to our particular specifications in a matter of hours!

Beautiful mosaic glass lamps at the Grand Bazaar

The next day, Saturday, we decided to go to Edirne and back - a one-way journey by bus would be about two and a half hours. We caught a taxi to the bus station and our eyes boggled at the sight of literally hundreds and hundreds of individual bus companies all offering trips to various parts of Turkey. Luckily, we knew which bus companies we had to find and we managed to buy our tickets fairly quickly and board our bus about half an hour later. The buses were a huge surprise. Brand new, sleek and comfortable and staffed with two attendants who handed out beverages and food throughout the journey - it was more like a plane trip than a bus ride, but far more comfortable! It was here that I got my first taste of 'simit' - a bagel-like bread that is sold on every street corner and tastes every bit as good as it looks! The highway from Istanbul to Edirne was as good as the vehicles that traversed it. We sped onwards at over 100km an hour and were at our destination in no time at all...what a remarkable change from travelling in India!

Some of the residential areas of Istanbul that really made us appreciate what we have at home

One of the saddest things that we observed as we travelled, were scenes such as the one above. As soon as we had left the heart of the city, for kilometres into the distance all we could see were masses and masses of tall apartment buildings, squashed in so tightly together that there was no room for trees, parks or even a blade of grass. Istanbul is home to over 20 million people and the only affordable housing for the majority of people are such multi-storey apartments. It made us think of how very lucky we are in Australia. Even with the cost of housing going through the roof, homes still have gardens and trees and even those who live in small apartments still have tree-lined streets and parks around the corner. These people had nothing natural at all left in their environment. We asked the owner of the carpet shop where we purchased our rug about this: where do children play and run? The young lad who was also working in the shop told us that when he was growing up, he used to play soccer in the streets with his friends, but now, there was too much traffic even for this.

The Salim Mosque in Edirne

We reached Edirne and walked to the Salim Mosque shown above. Near this mosque was another house that Baha'u'llah had stayed in during His five year stay in this city. The caretaker of the house met us at the mosque and we walked to the house which was a few minutes away. Here we were shown around the house, which had been beautifully restored, and we were also shown the site of another house that Baha'u'llah had stayed in. All that remained were the foundations - but work is starting this year to rebuild the house in its original form. We then wandered around Edirne for a couple of hours before returning on the bus to Istanbul once again.

Shanks purchasing some carob in Edirne

We arrived back in Istanbul at around 8:00pm. We came back to the hotel briefly and were just about to head out the door to find some dinner when the family who ran the hotel we were staying at persuaded us to join them for dinner instead. We had already spent a few hours talking to Bulent and his wife and their gorgeous, cheeky daughter Yasmin. We ate a simple meal of fried fish, salad and bread and then talked away long and late into the night about so many things, including food, schooling, Islam and carpets! We kept them amused by teaching them various Aussie phrases ("G'day mate" being the standard one), but we also had a chance to try to understand more about life in Istanbul from their perspective. There, like here, it has become almost impossible to afford a house and, again, like Australia, many people are leaving the rural areas to come to the cities for work - no-one wants to work on the land anymore. We also asked them about their impressions of the many Australians who come to Istanbul en route to Gallipoli (known as Gelibolu in Turkey). Luckily the reputation of Aussies here appears to be pretty good, which may explain the warm reception we received! Once again, spending time with this family was one of the highlights of our time in Istanbul...connecting with people from a different culture and religion, discovering so many commonalities in the lives that we lead and being treated with so much hospitality and warmth - this for us is really what travel is all about and where its influence has the most positive effect.

The very special family who ran the hotel we stayed at in Istanbul

We were very sad to be leaving Istanbul just five days after having arrived, but also tremendously excited about the last leg of our journey. In the end, we were so busy at the airport trying to change our tickets for the return leg that we ended up having to run to our gate just before they shut the doors, and slightly embarassed about being the last passengers on to the plane, we plonked ourselves in our seats and spent the rest of the flight looking out the window at scenes such as the one below, thankful for our time in Istanbul and awaiting the next leg of our adventure with mounting anticipation.

Snow covered mountains in southern Turkey as we flew towards our final destination

Some great quotes on travel

I came across these great quotes about travelling and thought I'd share them. The first one especially encapsulates how we approached our travels in India (or rather, how we didn't!). Also a good excuse to put some more photos on from Haifa!!! I promise some Turkey and India ones will come soon (hmmm....maybe as soon as Shanks writes his blog!).

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home."

James Michener


"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."

Mark Twain


"I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad."

George Bernard Shaw


"The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see."

G.K. Chesterton

Walking in a wonderland

I spent a large part of yesterday looking through some of the photos from our trip and working out which were my favourites so that when we show friends and family our holiday snaps they don't have to sit through thousands and thousands of photos (with Astrid & Christian's photos added to our collection, we have over 3000!). So here are some more from Haifa and later on I will post some photos from Turkey and also India.

Even though we arrived in Haifa in the middle of winter, the weather, although cold, was stunning - clear blue skys and sunshine for ten days straight...perfect weather for appreciating the beauty and tranquillity of the Baha'i gardens, Terraces and Shrines. We chose to walk around as much as possible, (many people opt for taxis or sheruts - a mini-van that operates much like a bus), as the half-hour walk up and down the mountain each day gave us a perfect opportunity to prepare ourselves for the days events, to reflect and to talk about the things that we had experienced together.

Window overlooking a garden inside the Universal House of Justice Building

Stairs leading to Terraces above the Shrine of the Bab

One of the rooms inside the Visitor Information Centre near the Shrine

Gateway and stairs near the uppermost Terrace

Gardens and view of Haifa from the uppermost Terraces

Entrance plaza to Shrine of the Bab and Terraces on Hagefen Street, looking down Ben Gurion Avenue

Pathway on the lower Terraces

Shrine of the Bab lit at night on the ninth day of our pilgrimage

Fountain on the lower terraces

Scenes from Haifa

Hello again folks! Shanks said that he would write the next blog, so while we wait for him to do this (don't hold your breath anyone), I thought I would share a few more photos from Haifa...Enjoy!

Massive marble columns of the Universal House of Justice building, with the Shrine of the Bab in the distance

Gardens near the Shrine of Baha'u'llah in Bahji

The Garden of Ridvan (Paradise) in Akka

The entrance to the Shrine of Baha'u'llah in Bahji

The Shrine of the Bab seen from the first of the terraces behind

One of the many beautiful fountains to be found on the upper terraces

Gardens near the entrance plaza to the Shrine of Baha'u'llah

Fountains immediately below the Shrine of the Bab, lit at night

Gateway near one of the upper terraces