Places of Worship

The Djenne mosque, built in the Sudanese style between 1906 and 1907. It looks very fresh and new because the portions of mud washed away in the annual rains are reapplied each year. The walls are between 16 and 24 inches thick. It is the world's largest mud structure.

Interior view of the Blue Mosque dome in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the first time I've ever been in a mosque, and I was surprised to see a guy running a vacuum cleaner over the middle of the wall to wall carpet, kind of made it seem not quite as religious somehow. I’ve never seen a vacuum cleaner in a religious building before, always figured they got the night shift fellahs to do that stuff. So the inside is covered with all of these small tiles, a lot of them blue, which is why it's called the Blue Mosque, blue being an expensive colour back in those days. The outside, like most mosques, is cement coloured, no doubt because it is cement. It was built between 1609 and 1616.

Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu, Mali, built in 1327, also mud construction. The French spell the name Tombouctou. The Malians will tell you that this is the oldest university in Africa, but this is not true, the oldest is in Egypt I think.

The monastery at Petra, carved into sandstone cliffs in Jordan. Petra was the capital of the ancient Nabataean people and built around the first century BC. The photo is framed to aim above the back of the Norwegian girl who was standing dead center in the way, taking her photos, as usual.

Little ladles at a water basin for washing your hands before entering a temple in Nikko, Japan.