Blogs from Middle East - page 931

We are back in Istanbul now after a super long bus ride. We have done quite a bit in the last few days that we spent in the Cappadocia area, so I’ll try and sum it up here! Three days ago we drove from Pamukkale to the Cappadocia area. That was a long drive. With a few stops along the way it took over 12 hours. Our first main stop was in Konya to visit the site of Rumi’s tomb. Rumi was a very famous Sufi mystic of the 13th century. The whirling dervishes were started by Rumi and they are Sufi mystics as well. So Rumi was very important in the Islam, especially Sufi mystic, tradition. The tomb was gorgeous and very elaborate and there were many tombs around his of other Sufi mystics. We ... read more

Tři holky a dva kluci. Těšili jsme se víc na Jordánsko a o Sýrii si mysleli, e jedeme do absolutní divočiny. Přečetli jsme cestopisy z netu a nakoupily Lonely Planet a Rough Guide. Zpočátku si mysleli, ze nám bude stačit 14 dní a ze střevní problémy nás určitě neminou. Jak to všechno nakonec dopadlo si můzete přečíst v následujících několika dílech cestopisu po blízkovýchodních zemích, Jordánsku a Sýrii. Počáteční nepříznivá situace na letenkovém trhu, ze totiz budeme muset mít jako počáteční i konečnou destinaci Ammán nebo Damašek, vzala za své, kdyz jsme těsně před námi daným termínem k nákupu letenek narazili na letenku pod deset tisíc korun českých od maďarského MALEV. Kazdý z nás se tak na konci ledna stal vlastníkem letenky Praha - Ammán a zpět Damašek - Praha. Odpadnou nám tak nepříjemné náklady na ... read more

What could be better than waking up to breakfast on the beach? We sipped our Turkish tea and planned our day while soaking up the sun and enjoying the view. We then packed up the car and drove into the town to explore Fethiye a bit before we leave. We spot some ruins carved into the mountain that bordered the back of the town. We park the car, walk up a tiny street and find some old stairs leading to right to these old structures built 6000 years ago! The view of the city and harbor below is stunning and we feel very fortunate to be the only ones in the world to be standing in this spot at this moment. After lunch and some shopping we head south toward Antalya. The drive is through the ... read more

What could be better than waking up to breakfast on the beach? We sipped our Turkish tea and planned our day while soaking up the sun and enjoying the view. We then packed up the car and drove into the town to explore Fethiye a bit before we leave. We spot some ruins carved into the mountain that bordered the back of the town. We park the car, walk up a tiny street and find some old stairs leading to right to these old structures built 6000 years ago! The view of the city and harbor below is stunning and we feel very fortunate to be the only ones in the world to be standing in this spot at this moment. After lunch and some shopping we head south toward Antalya. The drive is through the ... read more

Well, I've been here now in Saudi Arabia for just over six weeks. It feels like such a short time ago that Jamara and I stepped off the plane here in Riyadh only to be dropped off at an empty villa at 10.30pm with no one to direct our questions to and no idea of where we were to go the following day or how we were to get there. Over the last six weeks we've managed to take a trip into the desert to look at the beautiful red sands and amazing landscape that surrounds it. We've attended parties within the Australian and American Embassies. We've done LOADS of shopping in countless shopping malls over here. We've gotten into trouble off the Muttawa (religious police) for having our hair uncovered. We've gone desert diamond hunting, ... read more