Blogs from Middle East - page 880

A la sombra de la pared este de la Mezquita de los Omeyas ' la fuente ' es el café con más solera de de Damasco. Aquí es donde se puede escuchar a Abu Shadi, el último de los hakawati, cuentacuentos profesionales. Cada tarde a eso de las 19:00 h. Abu toma asiento para contar los cuentos de la época de los mamelucos. Umayad caminin bati duvarinin gölgesinde, “çesme” Samdaki en güzel ve geleneksel cafesi, orda Abu Shadi, son hikawati, yani hikaye anlatan, hikayelirini anlatiyor, saat 19:00’da, namazdan sonra. Nestled in the shadow of the Umayyad Mosque's eastern wall, 'The Fountain' is the most atmospheric of Damascus' traditional coffeehouses. This is where you can watch Abu Shady, the last of the hakawati (professional storytellers). Every evening around 19:00 (give or take an hour or two), Abu ... read more

We left the Grand Sakarya Hotel on Sunday morning and travelled with the U.S. team into Istanbul about 3hrs by bus,It was quite the experience for the bus driver manouvering around the very narrow streets. At one point we came around a corner and were faced with an on coming bus in which the honking and yelling between drivers began, What a show!Once we got to the Hotel we discovered we were not staying in the same hotel as the U.S. team so we had to get taxied to another Best Western right on the Ocean for a great price. What luck. We'got settled in and began to walk up the hill to the main area for sights. I was completely blown away by the architecture and the amazing sense that you are standing in a ... read more

Today we got up (early once again, quite a remarkable effort for me I must say. Dad, I think you would agree!) We left to go to Petra for the day. And what a day this one turned out to be!!! Petra is an amazing place, if anyone ever has the chance to go there...I strongly suggest it. But be prepared for long walks, many stairs, hot sun and the Bedouins! We started off by getting to the Treasury, then decided to walk up to the High Point of Sacrifice. After many water and rest stops along the way, we made it to the top and the walk was well worth it. Such a beautiful view from the top. A full 360 degree panoramic view of Petra and so much more beyond the horizon. We met ... read more

Hello from Istanbul! What a city! We are leaving tomorrow morning, but we have had 2 very busy days here filled with kebaps, Turkish delight, and a whole lot of bargaining. Its an absolutely beautiful city, packed full of mosques! needless to say, it was all a little bit overwhelming, the men are quite interested in all of us girls, snapping pictures of us from behind, but everyone is really nice and the Turkish people are very hospitable. Doing my duty as a good Jew, I trekked all the way to probably the only synagugue in Istanbul (Turkey is 99.8% muslim). It was very non-descript on a side street and was unfortunately closed cuz I would have liked very much to see the inside, but i took a few pictures of the outside. We visited the ... read more

Sophie and I were invited to a cousins wedding on Sat the 5th. Weddings around here are very elaborate both for the bridal party as well as the guests. Sophie and I went to a hair salon close to the village of Kharhoura to get our hair done. How wonderful to have one person shampoo your hair, another blow dry it until almost dry and the head stylist uses the round brushes to style it while the other girl holds the blow dryer for him! All this for $5 American dollars! Afterwards we went back to the village to get ready. The bride was from the village so she was busy getting pictures taken in the gardens around the village. It was very hot and she had a very beautiful elaborate dress on but she continued ... read more