Blogs from Middle East

If you know me at all, you know I fall in love with every country I visit. Turkey is no exception! This place has impressed, wowed, and awed me more than any other country (other than India perhaps). I was a tad apprehensive coming into a muslim country, and right after reading about the bombings near the Syria border, but I have never felt more safe! Truly, I would recommend this country probably above any of the other countries I have been on this trip so far (and that is saying a lot!). So before I get all carried away, let me tell you a couple of my experiences, and you can be the judge :) Instanbul...what a city! Everywhere you look is a mosque and there is more history to bore a historian. Well, perhaps ... read more

Looking back over my trip to Israel and Jordan, there a few mental postcards I keep. Here are a few of them: Guns and Moses Two things stood out for me in Jerusalem: first was the large number of Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews,) and the large number of defense forces in the city. There are a lot of soldiers and police of various services in Jerusalem, most of them heavily armed, especially in the vicinity of the Old City. Walking around, you are likely to see representatives of the Jerusalem District Police, the Israel Police, the Israel Border Guard, various branches of the Israel Defense Force (IDF), and members of the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces. You get used to seeing soldiers – male and female - sitting on a bench or in a café with their machine ... read more

Un loc ideal pentru artisti: Muftaha. O galerie de arta si diferite incaperi unde artisti din toata tara sunt ivitati sa lucreze . Magazinele de arta nu erau deschise, pentru ca adevaratul sezon incepe peste 2 saptamani. Abha e "deschisa" calatorilor 3 luni pe an, vara. Parcurile pentru copii erau inchise, doar un teleferic functiona, restul erau in revizie, restaurantul de pe "Muntele verde", un punct panoramic in centrul orasului care seara se imbraca in mii de lumini verzi, era in renovare. Alungati de caldura din Riyadh in lunile de vara, cei mai multi localnici "emigreaza" spre Abha, si e aproape imposibil sa gasesti cazare in perioada de varf. Am putut admira picturile din galeria de arta principala, iar pictorul din unicul atelier deschis le-a rasfatat pe doamnele din grup cu cate o amintire "caligrafica". Ce ... read more

Well here it is - my last day on this island! I am so excited to leave and sleep in my own bed, take a real shower, wear real clothes and put on some makeup!!! Oh, and see other women! Seriously, it is the little things that I miss right now. Cooking my own dinner. Going to watch a movie at the theater. Driving my car (even in the dreadful Doha traffic - I wonder how it has changed in the last 30 days). And having a Beer! Yes, 30 days later and I've learned a lot. I don't know how good a long summarizing blog post would be here, so keeping in theme with my goal for the past year, I'm just going to list the many firsts that I've encountered. Definitely more than my ... read more

Friday May 17, 2013. Istanbul Day 2. We showered and dressed in the clothes we had not packed (apparently plenty of people show up at disembarkation dressed in their PJ's!) and went for our last posh breakfast with Roy the super waiter. We waited our turn and left the cabin when Purple 1 (our luggage label number) was called. The disembarkation was shambolic with queues all the way down the stairs to the gangway. We cleared Turkish immigration and went outside to join the impossibly long queue for the taxi. The taxi drivers were all on the make - charging between 50 and 60 euros to Ataturk airport (when, according to the advice onboard, the fare should have been around 30 euros). We eventually found a taxi who would take us to our hotel on a ... read more