Blogs from Middle East - page 1057

High plateau between the mount Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges, linking the Syrian interior with the coastal cities of ancient Phoenicia. Used to be very much agricultural, it isn't that much flousishing anymore, apart from the "cannabis" cropping. Fortunately, it is now better known as the centre of Lebanon's burgeoning wine industry. From Beyrouth, which is my starting point for every trip I make inside the country, I have been so far to Baalbek and Zahle. Baalbek, mostly notorious back in the 80's for being the seat of Hezbollah (party of God) and helding hostages hidden in the valley ( such as William Buckley, head of the CIA at that time), it is still the "Sun" city of the Ancient world and the most important Roman site of the whole Middle East (dixit The Lonely Planet, ... read more

On Sunday we awoke in Kusadasi Turkey (Tour-Key-Ay we were corrected). The first half of the day was spent at the ancient ruins of Ephesus, parts of which are believed to date back to 1300 years BC. I took lots of pictures. After the tour we went to town for a demonstration of the construction of hand made rugs. They are gorgeous and some of them represent an entire years work by up to three young ladies. The Turks are very hospitable. Every store we entered, the proprietor tried to give us food and drink. They are also very pushy salesmen! I thought it was bad in Tijuana but these guys make the TJ shop owners look passive. I mean, they just do not take no for an answer! So... I let them sell me a ... read more

Hello again from Istanbul! What an incredible city, and an incredible journey getting here. THE BUS RIDE: From Borgas, we got on our bus to Istanbul. On the bus, we met a Canadian couple from Halifax on their honeymoon who were travelling Eastern Europe to visit family, and to travel. It was nice to see some friendly faces and here a familiar accent. We exchanged some information, and we may meet up tonight for drinks. ARRIVING IN ISTANBUL Interesting... The bus guide told us to get off at a central bus station, and another bus would pick us up there. Of course once we got off, there were 100000000 people in the busy station, everything was written in Turkish, few people spoke English, and nobody knew where our bus was. All of us had large ... read more

first leg • The case of the missing contact lens holder So their journey begins at Charles De Gaulle airport and already there is chaos! Traumatised from standing patiently in the check in queue whilst the biggest coach load of French push in front of us Saz realises she has checked in her contact lens holder and solution (ideal when you have a 9 hour trip ahead of you!) Discovering that the terminal building has little in it but some cool escalators, toilets and a newsagent they decide to improvise….2 boxes of tic tacs and a bottle of water later all was well in their world. • Dubai dodgem cars Sitting on the balcony of the latest and greatest air-conditioned oasis palace after their first exhausting day in Dubai, sleeping, saz and ficks sit outside on ... read more

Its been a manic few days. Left Kusadasi on Thursday and went to Pumakalle. This is a place with calcium terraces. Very cool. Stopped on the way at a hotel with thermal mud pools and a great pool. Was wonderful. Excellent lunch too. Then had to catch local buses to Egirdir. This was an experience and a half. Got one bus to the bus station at a place called Denizli and then had to wait an hour and a half for the next bus. We were the only foreigners there. Almost missed the bus as the bus company was using another companies bus and the sign on the bus said somewhere else. Luckily we got on just in time. Local buses in Turkey are amazing. They have someone serving drinks including tea and coffee. Our guy ... read more