Blogs from Middle East - page 923

Nizwa - the interior city. Nizwa (Arabic: نزوى‎) is the largest city in the Ad Dakhiliyah Region in Oman and was the capital of Oman proper. Nizwa is about 140 km (1.5 hours) from Muscat. The population is estimated at around 70,000 people. Set amid a verdant spread of date palms, it is strategically located at the crossroads of routes linking the interior with Muscat. Nizwa is a center for date growing. Dates from Nizwa (including Khalas and are known to be the best dates in the world). The main tourist attractions in the city are Nizwa Fort and the traditional Souq. The main bulk of the fort, built in the 1650's took about 12 years to complete and was built above an underground stream. The main part of the fort is its enormous drum-like tower ... read more

Hello from Liam in Turkey. Yesterday we went to Mykonos Greece. We went on the island and toured around at about noon. The small roads in Mykonos were so confusing. My mom said they were made to confuse pirates long ago. We ate lunch at a small restaurant in the open air. I had souvlaki. My dad had the same. My mom had roasted tomatoes and Tyler had pasta. When we went up to the windmills we saw a bunch of birds and an old Mykonos house. There were five windmills altogether. On the way down from the windmills we went to a playground. After the playground we started to walk down towards the ship. We got on the ship and then I went to Adventure Ocean until dinnertime. This morning we arrived in Kusadasi, Turkey. ... read more

Wadi Shab 'Wadi' means 'dry river bed' (Wadi Shab is actually a wet river bed, a beautiful emerald green oasis in the desert). Wadi Shab is wadi in Oman and located between the capital Muscat and the town Sur, Oman. It has at least seven pools of emerald green water and is studded with boulders. One of the pools is in a cave where light streams in dramatically from above and there are fantastic echoes heard when one swims in it. Eventhough all guidebooks say you need a 4WD to get there...you can easily reach it in a regular car...thanks to the backbreaking road-construction (courtesy of practically free labor from India/Pakistan/Afghanistan). These workers situation is so bad, and the government does not do anything to alleviate the situation. Most of these workers flock from the subcontinent ... read more

The weekend started as all weekends should, on a Wednesday. Çocuklar Bayramı (Children's Holiday) meant no classes - wooohoooo! I found a dirt cheap plane ticket and landed around noon in Kars, setting of Orhan Pamuk's novel, Kar (Snow), which I still haven't read (the English-translation of it that I found in İstanbul - in paperback! - cost more than the plane ticket to Kars!). Anyway, my guidebook was correct in noting that the city is full of Russian buildings, appropriately grey and run-down. Still, Kars did prove to have more to offer than I originally expected. I shared a cab into town with a young man who had flown in from Aydın to visit his girlfriend. We sat, talked, and drank tea - because this is what happens in Turkey. Despite my improving skills and ... read more

Har nå vært i Dubai,United Arab Emirats i en ukes tid,og det er ikke til å stikke under en pizzabit at ja,det er pr.dags dato den mest voksende byen i værden,og det vises med renter, et bygges overalt!!! Kom tidlig mandag morgen med fly fra Mauritius & fant et billig hotell i Deira som er ”gamlebyen”i Dubai. Det er mange hoteller å velge mellom,men no budget/kræsje plass er det ingenting av da flesteparten er av type luxux-superdyre-hotelopplegg.. Etter å ha stæsja backpacken min på rommet var jeg da klar for å utforske byen..,ikke så lett gitt da avstandene er enorme og alle butikker osv er plassert inn i de 300 kjøpesenterene spredd rundt i Dubai. .,MEN skjønner nå hvorfor, da det er sinnsykt varmt med sine 40grader denne uka,og med en gjennomsnitts temp på 43grader i ... read more