Russian Gateway to the Muslim World

The main mosque is Nalchik is a ten-minute walk from our flat. We often hear the daily call to prayer resonating from its minarets. And here’s another reminder that we live in a very Middle Eastern part of the world: flights from our Nalchik airport fly to only three destinations besides Moscow: Istanbul, Turkey; Dubai, the United Arab Emirates; and Aleppo, Syria.

The mosque below is located in the very heart of a village outside of Nalchik.

(below) Graves in that same village.

Some tombstones are written in Arabic, not in Russian as you may expect.