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Ramallah, Palestine

Ramallah, just 10km north of Jerusalem, has become Palestine’s de-facto capital, home to the Palestinian parliament, government ministries and the offices of the President and Prime Minister. Closely associated for me with the Intifada and Palestinian resistance, Ramallah is today the most affluent and liberal city in Palestine and the cultural hub of the West Bank, with many famous Palestinian activists, poets, musicians and artists residing here. We took a Palestinian bus from Jerusalem for the short trip, without much of a plan of […]

Jerusalem has so many Christian hot-spots: where Jesus had his last supper (Mt Zion), taught, rested and prayed (Mount of Olives), did miracles, agonised (Gethsemene) and where he was crucified (now Church of Holy Sepulchre). I’ll cover these and more… but first something I should have mentioned in my Holiday Season post… I witnessed and accidentally got stuck in the middle of the Jerusalem March, an event during Sukkot that has people of all nations march for a few hours through the streets singing […]

Desert Castles

From Amman there is a route East that takes you past several castles in the desert. We rented a car and instead of doing this as a day trip loop , did the trip and carried on to Jerash and based ourselves there. First castle we came across was Qasr Hraneh… built in the 8th century, about 710 they reckon… although scholars aren’t in agreement on what it was used for. The most likely scenario is that it was a khan (inn). Another 10 […]

Amman – Jordan’s Capital

After relaxing in the Red Sea coastal town of Aqaba, enjoying the beautiful desert at Wadi Rum and then exploring the incredible ancient city of Petra, it was time to head for Jordan’s Capital Amman. The biggest impression the city left on me was the incredible amount of street art… in car parks, on the sides of huge apartment buildings, on walls, and up steps. The street art was everywhere – downtown, in the suburbs, small alleyways and main streets. Here’s just a small […]

PETRA Day 2

After a wonderful DAY 1 exploring Petra we head back in the way we did yesterday (the only entrance open to tourists). No need to get another ticket – show yesterday’s one at the entrance and walk back in through the Siq. A few minutes walk past the Treasury, you take the steps on your left (near the toilets, before the theatre) up to the High Place of Sacrifice. With our early start and most people heading down the main strip of Petra we […]

PETRA – Day 1!

Petra is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It features on most “must see before you die” lists. The ancient city, carved into the mountains around 2000 years ago, is incredible in so many ways, so settle in and enjoy this taste of being there! For those who plan to go, hopefully my bullet-pointed suggestions for how to tackle Petra in 2 days will be helpful. Petra is overwhelmingly huge and well worth joining the […]

Day 37

Just a quick update as I have a bridge tournament starting soon… I said yesterday I was going to have stuffed marrow for dinner… was quite excited about trying my new recipe. I made the ‘stuffing’ part and then Antony sliced open the marrow… only to discover there was no big seedy middle bit to take out where the stuffing should go! He took out a very small seedy bit at one end- would have fit about a tablespoon of filling in it! So […]

18 Tips for Couchsurfing in Iran

For the first-time couchsurfer Iran will provide a wonderful introduction to couchsurfing – but quite possibly spoil you if you want to couchsurf elsewhere! For the seasoned couchsurfer Iran is a dream come true with many incredibly hospitable and interesting people wanting to host. If you have never couchsurfed before I would recommend at least a few nights doing this if you come to Iran. It is an amazing way to get to know Iranian people and something of their family life, their food, […]

Learning Persian in Iran

The Persian language or Farsi as it is called in Persian, is for me the most beautiful language in the world! I don’t know why I love it so much but I do. When I first heard Iranian friends in Denmark speak it back in 2000, I just fell in love with the sound of it. Now I’m discovering it is not just a beautiful sounding language but very poetical. For example a common way to say thank you is ‘Daast e shoma dard […]

The Amazing Aras River Valley & Babak Castle

Talk about saving the best for last… we had a real treat in our last two days in Iran. 🙂 Things didn’t go too smoothly when we arrived in Jolfa but once we got on the road exploring the Aras River Valley – first west then east of Jolfa- we were blown away with how beautiful it was! The last destination before we left for Armenia was Babak Castle and it was incredible… our last hours in Iran were quite possibly the best!! We […]

Kerman, Iran

Kerman province in Iran’s South East had so far treated us well- with great stays in Shahr-e-babak and Rafsanjan, also Meymand Cave village. Now it was time to check out the big smoke, the city of Kerman itself. After a slow trip there followed by lovely hospitality from the driver who picked us up, we eventually got dropped off in the city at a mobile phone shop our couchsurf host, Amir, owned. His shop was in a street with lots of other mobile phone […]

Persepolis – Ancient Persia

Known as Takht-e Jamshid in Iran or to others as Persepolis (the name the Greeks gave it), these ancient ruins offer a glimpse of the grandeur of the ancient Achaemenid Empire. An easy day trip from the southern city of Shiraz, Persepolis and Shiraz itself feature on almost all Iran travel itineraries. (More about our time in Shiraz here). Now the history in Iran is quite long and complex and while most Iranians we met refered with ease to this empire and that era […]