I went on a business trip to Athens for a week in May 2008. Overall I was quite impressed by the place. The main tourist area in central Athens is La Plaka. It’s a very old area of Athens and the narrow streets and lanes have been extensively pedestrianised. The old houses have been on the whole tastefully renovated and many have been converted into tourist shops and pavement cafes. The old squares are now almost completely filled with restaurants…
I first visited Petra when I was living in Cairo in 2000 and so some of the photos are from that trip. Pre-digital camera days for me meant that the scanned photos lack the sharpness of the other photos taken on a more recent trip in April 2008. Petra. But what an amazing place. Emerging from the canyon almost too narrow for a horse and cart and then to be confronted by the ancient treasury chiselled out of the sandstone…
The King’s Highway is the name given to the modern incarnation of the ancient route which travels almost the entire length of Jordan from Amman in the north to Petra in the south. Giants throughout history have trodden its path from Moses through the great Roman Emperors to Richard the Lionheart. Not surprisingly it is therefore the site of many historical monuments and also not just a few natural ones including Jordan’s ‘Grand Canyon’. The ancient crusader castle of Karak…
Jordan’s deserts comprise 80% of the land area but only 5% of the population. the biggest desert starts as the suburbs of Amman peter out and continue East to the Iraqi, Syrian and Saudi borders. The area is mainly desolate as you’d expect but there are a few highlights, both natural and man-made. One of these is Azraq oasis which used to provide water for roaming herds of animals. Unfortunately since the 1960’s it has had to supply water to…
Jordan is a great place for birdwatching especially in Spring and Autumn when many migrants are passing through on their way to and from Africa and Europe. Along the King’s highway is a great spot for bird watching – especially in spring. We saw a number of migrants on their way to Europe for the summer. Another good spot is the Azraq wetlands reserve. Although it is no longer that wet, it does have the only drinking water available for hundreds of miles. And…
Think of Jordan and you generally think of desert. And you’d be right 90% of the time. However, in January 2008 we had a couple of days of quite heavy snow. Locals said they hadn’t seen it like this for over 20 years and everything came to a complete standstill. If you are from colder climes you may think the following pictures are nothing special, except perhaps for photos of palm trees covered in snow, but for Jordanians it was…
We’ll start with another video: If anything the souk in Aleppo is even more facinating (and labyrinthine) than its counterpart in Damascus. Like Damascus, the souk is in the heart of the old city, surrounding the great mosque and consisting of a seemingly infinite number of small covered passageways down which travel people, donkeys and increasingly, small suzuki pickups often no wider than the alley. The only major difference is that the whole city both new and old is overlooked…
Hama is a medium sized town midway between Damascus and Aleppo and so an ideal place to stop for a few days to explore the hinterland. There are plenty of things to see including two of the highlights of Syria, the crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers and the Roman ruins at Afamea. Hama is also a worthy stop in itself. It is situated on the banks of the Orontes River in one of the few fertile areas of Syria….
Palmyra is probably the most well-known of Syria’s attractions and is certainly one of the most impressive historical sites of the region. It’s position, in the middle of the Syrian desert, only adds to its aura and even if you are bored with visiting another ancient bunch of rocks you can’t fail to be impressed by its desert surroundings and watched over by a magnificent arab castle. The ruins date largely from 2nd century AD but the site itself is…
Here’s a short video of our trip to Damascus. Before exploring the souk and the old city of Damascus I thought I’d include one of the most familiar sights of all our time in Syria – the Syrian breakfast which was completely unchanged in every hotel and guesthouse we stayed. Was it enshrined in law that all guests must be served boiled eggs, olives, white Syrian cheese, lebneh (a delicious cheesy yogurt) and arabic bread? All washed down with sweet…