On my first visit to Beirut's Tawlet, I stopped to ask a shopkeeper directions. "Tawlet?" she verified. I nodded. "C'est très bon," with a delicate flutter of the fingers accompanying her très, before she pointed me in the right direction. I'd heard great ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Travel through the Middle East by Country:
Middle East
Tawlet: Lebanese Locavore Love
On my first visit to Beirut's Tawlet, I stopped to ask a shopkeeper directions. "Tawlet?" she verified. I nodded. "C'est très bon," with a delicate flutter of the fingers accompanying her très, before she pointed me in the right direction. I'd heard great ...Ten Random Observations About Iraq
While traveling in Iraq I noticed some interesting things that didn't fit into any of the articles in my series. Some of these observations may be obvious to those more familiar with the country, but odd first impressions are one of the fun things about travel!
1. The ...Hayete: Beautiful Budget-Friendly Beirut Guesthouse
Hayete, a budget-friendly guesthouse in Beirut, is a rare bird: stylish, in a fantastic location, and relatively inexpensive.
Budget-minded travelers who also enjoy a bit of style are usually out of luck when it comes to accommodations. Budget-friendly options ...Discovery Adventures Announces New Tours For 2013
The calendar may still say 2012, and I know we all have a busy holiday season to navigate yet, but it is never too early to start planning our trips for the new year ahead. To help us out with that process, Discovery Adventures has announced a host of new tours and ...A Solo Stroll Through Baghdad
I am alone in Baghdad. After a farewell dinner and a visit to an Iraqi amusement park my travel companions have left for the airport. Our guards from the Interior Ministry have gone off to other duties and I'm staying unguarded in my hotel. I don't fly out until tomorrow. ...A Family Night Out In Baghdad
After a long road trip around Iraq, I find myself back in Baghdad. It's our last night together as a group. For our final dinner we decide to eat a famous Baghdadi recipe at a famous landmark –mazgouf fish at Abu Nuwas Park.
Abu Nuwas park runs for one-and-a-half ...Kurdistan: The Other Iraq
Families out for an evening stroll, friends sipping coffee at sidewalk cafes, tourists seeing the sights without a police escort – am I still in Iraq?
Sort of.
I'm in Kurdistan, an autonomous region made up of Iraq's three northernmost provinces. The Kurds ...Visiting The Christian Community In Iraq
Before Iraq was conquered by the Arabs in the seventh century, it was one of the oldest centers of Christianity in the world. Even after the Arab conquest, Christians made up a sizable minority of the population – sometimes tolerated, sometimes persecuted, but always ...Visiting Ur, Ctesiphon, And Babylon In Iraq
Iraq is an ancient land. It's seen a lot of civilizations come and go and each one has left behind spectacular monuments and rare treasures. On a recent visit, I had the privilege to experience many of these sites. Last time, I talked about the monuments of the Assyrian ...Traveler Visits Every Country In The World Without Boarding A Plane
A British man has accomplished what many world travelers have only dreamed of. Over the course of the past four years, he has managed to visit every country on the planet, which is a very impressive feat considering some of the places he had to go to in order to earn this ...GeoEx iPad App Brings Travel Catalog Into The 21st Century
For more than 30 years, Geographical Expeditions, or GeoEx as they are more commonly known, has been at the forefront of adventure travel. Since its founding in a tent on the Tibetan Plateau back in 1982, the company has been focused on providing the best travel experiences ...Visiting The Great Assyrian Sites Of Iraq
This Iraqi policeman is busy texting at one of the great archaeological sites of his country – Assur, the first capital of the Assyrian Empire.
Assur was founded at least as early as 2400 B.C., but it wasn't until the reign of the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad (ruled ...Hostility And Smiles On The Streets Of Nasiriyah, Iraq
There comes a time in every trip when the honeymoon ends. The initial romance of being in a new place wears off and you begin to notice the pushy vendors and the dirty hotel rooms. The first blush of love fades like a flower in autumn, hit by the cold winter wind of ...Bad Trip: How To Annoy Your Tour Guide
We've all been there. Maybe we've been one. The person on a guided tour or trip who's a complete, utter, pain in the ass.
Perhaps it's unintentional. Maybe it's due to deep-seated issues that would cause empathy in another situation. Or just possibly, it's because the ...Beer Run In Basra
We'd been on the road in Iraq for a week, and after inhaling ten pounds of desert sand each, we really needed a beer. Luckily we were in Basra, and our tour leader Geoff knew a good place to buy liquor under the counter. So after a day of seeing the historic quarter and ...A Sneak Peek At The Soon-To-Reopen National Museum Of Iraq
The National Museum of Iraq is as battered and defiant as the country it represents. Battered because it has suffered looting and neglect, defiant because its staff fought to protect it. Now they're rebuilding and the museum will soon reopen.
I got a sneak peak while ...Join Sean McLachlan For A Reddit AMA On His Trip To Iraq
When Sean McLachlan approached me early last year with the idea of building some Iraq coverage I thought he was crazy. Iraq was a warzone. The security situation in the country was far from stable and I wasn't about to send a freelancer, husband and father headlong into the ...Other Countries A US President Has Never Visited
President Barack Obama will land in Myanmar (aka Burma) this week, a first-time visit for any President of the United States. Never mind that Myanmar is best known as a brutal dictatorship, not exactly in line with U.S. foreign policy. Disregard any political or ...10 Minutes Of Terror On Vacation In Iraq
I'm in Samarra, in the heart of the Sunni Triangle, the birthplace of the insurgency and a hotspot for sectarian tension in war-torn Iraq. My heart is racing and my mouth is dry. This is the most frightened I've been in months.
But I'm not scared of the Sunnis, I'm ...Iraq Street Art: Beautifying The Blast Walls
One of the first things you notice when traveling in Iraq are the blast walls. These giant concrete barriers are everywhere – in front of government buildings, schools, mosques and dividing Shia from Sunni neighborhoods. They remind me of the "peace walls" put up in ...
