Blogs from Middle East - page 5

An overnight flight meant an early morning arrival into Istanbul. Getting through the airport was unproblematic and I made it down to the airport shuttle. The bus journey was quicker than I had anticipated. It was however pretty cramped and there was nothing to see as it was still dark and I think we were just on motorways. I had booked a place to stay that was near the shuttle drop off point, so there wasn’t a long walk with my luggage. The place was meant to have a 24 hour reception, but I sent a while in the rain ringing the doorbell as the desk staff were MIA. I did get to check-in early, so that was nice and it meant I could have a quick shower and freshen up after my flight. Once I ... read more

Ruins, tombs, ruins, monastery, ruins, a cat and more ruins On this trip my plan was to stay in Larnaca the entire time and explore the island by going on daytrips from there. I could take bus both to Ayia Napa and to Nicosia, so those two places I could easily get to. Since the most remote parts of Cyprus could be reached by car in three hours or so from Larnaca I decided to rent a car for three days. I thought I had an excellent plan until I realised that they drive on the left side of the road. I guess I should have seen that one coming but I didn't. I was actually less afraid of driving on the left side of the road than I was of changing gears with my left ... read more

Cats, historical sites, flamingos and more December is a very dark, cold and wet month in Sweden. Since Ake doesn't like when it is dark, cold and wet and since he also usually has time off from work in the end of December he always tries to go abroad this time of the year. This year Emma couldn't go with him so he had to travel alone. And he went to Cyprus. Cyprus is a country and an island in the Mediterranean Sea. The northern part of Cyprus has since the 1970-ies been occupied by Turkey. Since I have already visited North Cyprus I felt no need to go there on this trip. Instead my plan was to focus on visiting the south. Here in this blog entry I will write about what I did and ... read more

From the small town of Wadi Musa we travelled a short distance to Little Petra. It was an interesting introduction to the area. Here we found the old Nabataean structures which had been dug out of the sides of the canyon. These included a collection systems, steps and "shops" . He last section of the area involved a short but steep set of stairs which was an introductory test to the main Petra site. Next day up early to visit Petra. The first section, about 2.5 km long is through the Siq or narrow canyon. So interesting seeing the variety of carvings. Finally a glimpse of the Treasury! Astounding in size. Petra is much bigger than I imagined. Over the day, we walked about 16 km because we went up the 850 steps to the Monastery. ... read more

Bonjour à tous Nous voilà sur le chemin du retour. Notre dernier repas, super, musique bédouine, assis sur des poufs. J'accepte, j'avais qu'à resté chez moi. Tout d'abord un grand merci, pour toutes vos nombreuses visites, presque 1200. Merci aussi pour votre indulgence envers les nombreuses fautes d'orthographe et de frappe. Ce voyage nous procuré plein de surprises, beaucoup d'agréables, et d'autres un peu déconcertantes, surtout pour moi. Nous avons adorés Mascate, l'Opéra, et la grande Mosquée. La ville en elle même, bof. Mais surtout nous étions superbement bien logés. Le séjour dans les montagnes de Djabal Al Akhdar à plu à Cathy, surtout pour les marches, où j'ai failli y laisser ma peau, ainsi qu'à Djabal Shams, où la aussi l'hôtel avec sa vue était magnifique. Par Nizwa nous n'avons pas été transcendés. J'ai eu ... read more