Tekie Blagai - what a spa hotel looks like for wandering tramps and homeless philosophers

The current hotel business is almost unthinkable without SPA-services. Water relaxing treatments in a compartment with the maximum level of room comfort - such a pastime is ideal for many. Today, the word SPA itself is associated with wealth and respect.

Few can imagine that the prototypes of today's spa hotels can be called Muslim tekis or tekke. That was the name of the peculiar guest houses in the Islamic world, where wandering dervises lived and performed their religious rites. These monks or homeless people have always enjoyed special respect, and therefore they built shelters for them with special requirements for comfort and convenience.

During our trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina, we visited such a shelter in the village of Blagai. This place was very special and worthy of attention ...

Dervishes for many of us are associated with some strange dancers in long skirts who can spin in ecstasy for hours to the point of exhaustion.

In fact, dervishes, or Sufis, are people who have refused all earthly goods and are trying to find themselves through wanderings, as well as religious rites. Dance is just one of the options for achieving religious ecstasy.

Dervishes could be called Muslim monks, only they have few restrictions in worldly life. They can have families and live in their homes, or they can be poor tramps, fakirs and magicians. They didn’t have to suffer very often. Ordinary Muslims have always treated them with respect, respect, and even fear.

During their wanderings, the dervishes could stay for a long time in special tekiye houses. All conditions were created there for a rather convenient and even comfortable rest for a long time.

In the process of choosing a place for the future tekoy and further construction, seven components were taken into account - a house, a staircase, calm water, flowing water, a rock, a grave, a cave. This strange set was supposed to ensure complete harmony in the future.

Tekie Blagai was built about five centuries ago just by all these rules. A large, bright two-story house with a staircase is located on a high cliff next to the source of the Buna karst river, whose clean but stormy streams burst out through the underground cave.

This place is fascinating today. In the summer there is no end to tourists. Bosnians have long occupied this place with pragmatic goals. Right next to the water there are a dozen street cafes and souvenir shops.

Moreover, tables with chairs are located directly in the flowing water of the karst river. Its cool waters are sure to cool cool in the summer.

They even arranged a small cafe even in the courtyard. What to do, it’s not shameful for Muslims to make money even near holy places.

Anyone can get into the building for a small admission.

True, the unfaithful, both men and women, will have to abide by the dress code, remove their shoes and put on special skirts with scarves.

The current building was completely rebuilt, on the site of the former, destroyed by a collapse, in the 1880s. Inside you can see rooms that are not devoid of oriental flavor for sleeping and socializing.

Agree, it's cozy here!

Comfort is also all right!

Nearby was a kitchen with a hearth-stove. The latter is perfectly preserved.

You can also take a look where the dervishes celebrated.

By the way, in this room there is a window with a beautiful view of the river and rocks.
I was not mistaken at the beginning of this story, calling tequia the prototype of modern spa hotels. In Islam, special attention is always paid to water procedures.

So in these blessings you can find a special room for a hammam - a thermal bath.

There is also a so-called mesjid in teki - a mosque without a minaret. Everything here was created for spiritual and physical harmony.

An attentive reader will recall the above mentioned one important component of any teki - the grave. In these blessings there is not just a grave, but a whole mausoleum right inside the house. Through the door gap inside you can see two old coffins. It is worth telling about them separately.

In one of them lies a certain Achik Pasha. He was a sheikh - the so-called rulers of tequia. They also say that he was spying for Turkey, since during his life Bosnia was part of Austria-Hungary.

Another tomb is even more interesting. There is nobody inside. According to legend, she was placed in honor of the legendary character Sarah Saltuk. There are many legends and secrets associated with this strange dervish. According to one of them, he could suddenly appear and disappear anywhere. That's Blagai, he also mysteriously disappeared in his time, leaving behind him only a mace and saber. According to legend, this happened to him seven times, and in each place his followers put an empty tomb.

Yes, you understood correctly, dervishes were still mystics. Not for nothing and the word fakir meant both dervishes and wandering ascetics in India.

I think you already understood that it’s definitely worth a visit to Blagay. This is better done in the off-season and in the absence of crowds of tourists, which will help to appreciate this place. It is located just 12 kilometers from the important Bosnian city - Mostar. Do not miss this spa hotel for tramps and fakirs, if you suddenly find yourself nearby ...