after arriving at the jeddah airport, we took a taxi an hour away to our hotel in makkah, where we would stay for the next four days. once we were settled in, we had a quick dinner and then we were off to the haram, to see the kaaba for the first time. :)
because saad grew up in saudi arabia with his family, he had gone for umrah a few times before. but for me, this would be my first time seeing the kaaba and praying so close to it. all my life i'd only heard stories about makkah and madina, and i'd only seen pictures so i was very excited to see the real thing :)
and when we walked out towards the kaaba, and i got my first glance, i think i was in shock. we stopped and just stared for a while, making our own supplications. and the more i looked at it, the more surreal it felt. but as we started our umrah, making tawaf (or circling) around the kaaba, it was sinking in more that i was here and i wanted to cry because it was so beautiful and peaceful. the closeness you feel to your Creator in this place is something you can't feel anywhere else. it's beyond words. so hard to explain.
in makkah, there is constantly a rush of people. i'm talking about hundreds of thousands of people. and the crowd mashaAllah never thins out. we performed our umrahs during the night, probably around 2 am. but even then it was jam packed.
since there was so much rush, and we only had one working cell phone, saad kept a tight grip on my hand at all times so we didn't get separated. and because of this, i feel that we had this closeness with each other during our time there. in makkah and madina, the blessings are everywhere. and i surely felt the blessings in our relationship every moment i was there with my husband. i've never felt more at one with him than i did in our time there. not just physically, from being hand in hand all the time, but even emotionally as we prayed and worshiped our Creator together. it was just beautiful, alhamdulillah. :)
i remember this specific night when we went to do tawaf just before fajr. we went to the top level to circle the kaaba this time instead of on the ground. there wasn't too much of a rush up there since they only allow a certain amount of people in at a time. so walking with our hands held wasn't a necessity that night. we could have walked alongside each other just fine and not gotten separated. but even then, saad took my hand and we circled the kaaba, not talking to each other. we quietly made our own supplications, and talked to our Lord instead. the weather was beautiful, there was this slight breeze. and these birds were flying overhead in the dead of the night. it had to be one of my favorite moments. :)
^^^ready for our first umrah :) mashaAllah
^^^the clock tower
^^^the door of the kaaba
^^^the kaaba, mashaAllah.
^^^one of my favorite nights.
^^^the view of the clocktower, and the beautiful moon subhanallah, while doing tawaf
^^^so many different kinds of dates were sold here
^^^this place has the BEST chicken broast/nuggets. it's really popular and only located in makkah and madinaso of course we ate it like twenty times in the ten days we were there :))
^^^saadu's favorite
^^^everything, even the orange juice, tasted SO much better in saudi.
on our fifth day in saudi arabia, we left makkah and took a five hour bus ride to madina.
madina is the hometown of our beloved prophet muhammad (pbuh).
when you visit this place, and walk the streets and pray at his mosque, the feeling of peace and serenity is so prominent. it had to be beautiful though, and it had to be peaceful, because it was where our beloved prophet (pbuh) ate and lived and walked and prayed. it was beautiful because it was his. :)
^^^these umbrellas were the coolest. they were everywhere and could be closed as well
^^^beautiful ceiling inside the mosque
we spent an amazing four days in madina and having to leave was so hard. but on the fifth day, we took the same bus ride back to makkah again for two days. once we had performed our second umrah in makkah, we were off to jeddah to visit saad's cousin, her husband and their three kids.
we stayed in jeddah for about two days and had such a fun time. :) saad's cousin and her husband took us to a few different malls and we went out to eat a few times as well. there was also this HUGE water fountain near the houses of where the royal family lives which we got to see as well.
^^^seaside
^^^the huge water fountain
we had some unforgettable experiences in makkah, madina, and jeddah. but our trip isn't over yet! stay tuned for part two for our adventures in dubai and pakistan. :)
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