Ibn Battutah 101-160

In this part of the book Battutah travels through Asia minor, the Steppe, and Constantinople.  He stops at many great cities during this part of his travels and seems to be impressed with this area of the world.  His first major experience is when he gets onto a Christian boat called the Genoese, and sailed with them for ten days to al-Alaya.  From al-Alaya he traveled to the great city of Bilad al-Rum.  here he notes that they have very good food, the best dressed people, and the women there don’t wear veils!  I also found on page 102 that there is a notion of the division of sects among muslims, he talks about the “sunnah”.  After al-Rum the next major city he encounters is Antaliyah. He remarks that this town is organized very well, and is the most populated town he’s seen.  I thought it was strange that in this town lived people who belonged to different religions but they all separated themselves.  For example the Jews who lived there all lived together in a circle bounded by a wall, the Christians and so on did the same thing that separated them from the Muslims.  Then he traveled to Akridur, he didn’t say much about this place other than it housed fine bazaars, fresh sweet water, and many fruits.  Ladhig is home to seven mosques, beautiful gardens and fine fabrics.  He notes that there are many Greeks who live there and pay money to the Sultan because they are not Muslims.  He also says that Greek women are bought and sold as prostitutes and that as long as they did their business in the bath houses no one said anything about it.  I noticed as I was reading that there was a funny anecdote about when they entered the city.  A group of men came from their booths and took hold of their horses and began arguing.  They spoke a different language so Battutah and his fellow travelers didn’t understand what was going on and thought they were being attacked.  Then finally someone who understood Arabic told them that they were simply arguing over who would take them in to give shelter and food for the night.  I though that was funny because their kind actions had been mistaken for hostility. Next in Quniya Battutah says that they have very fine buildings and many streams and gardens.  From here, the next major city he travels to is called Birgi.  He ends up spending a great deal of time in this city.  The first person they stayed with had them sleep on the roof because it was the hot season and this was the coolest place at night.  The next night they stayed at a knowledgeable professor’s house who lectured to them and treated them very well.  The professor then wrote a letter to the Sultan of this city to inform them of these travelers he encountered.  The Sultan sent a request for the travelers to visit him so they took off into the mountain where he stayed during the hot season.  Battutahs first experience on the mountain was that one of his horses died becuase of the cold temperatures.  Also the Sultan wanted to hear about his travels and write down to tell others about far away cities.  Battutah grew tired of being in the mountain with the Sultan but didn’t want to disrespect him at the same time.  Finally after many days the Sultan gave him and his company alot of clothes, money, gold, a horse, and even a slave girl and sent them on their way.  From the mountain they traveled to Aya Suluq, which was an ancient city built by the Greeks.  It housed one of the most beautiful mosques in the world, and before leaving he bought another Greek slave girl.  In the town of Barghamah, they picked up a man to guide them through the mountains.  The they travel to Bursa, whish as an important city.  Here they had many fine bazaars and two bath-houses for men and for women. Here he met another traveler but Battutah said that he had outdone this other man because he’d been to China and other islands.  From here he traveled to many much smaller towns and began to be escorted by “mounted men” which I think is like a soldier for protection and guidance.  He finally arrives at another great city called Qastamuniyah which was one of the largest cities.  Here there are alot of goods to buy and at low prices.  They stayed in this city for forty days and bought food for very cheap.  When they initially arrived at Constantinople they weren’t permitted in because they were Muslims and needed special permission, but soon after they were permitted to enter.  As before the Sultan here also questioned him about his travels but wanted to know of the places that were religiously important to them.  After Constantinople they journeyed into Turkestan and Afghanistan, which is the desert.  So they sold their horses for a good price, and hired camels to pull the wagons with the provisions and slaves.  They reached the city of Khwarizm which is the most important city to the Turks and has broad streets and fine things, and is very crowded with people.