Middle East - Anthony Ham [0]
Destination Middle
East
Getting Started
Middle East Stories
History, Politics &
Foreign Affairs
Religion
Arts
Food & Drink
Environment
Egypt
Iraq
Israel & the Palestinian Territories
Jordan
Lebanon
Syria
Turkey
Middle East
Directory
Transport in the
Middle East
Health
Language
Glossary
The Authors
Behind the Scenes
Map Legend
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Destination Middle East
The Middle East is one of history’s grand epics in the making. Once the cradle of civilisation, now a region where modern human history is daily being written upon the stones of the past, the Middle East is where the lines between history’s story and the magic of the travel experience are forever being blurred.
Few places in the world can match the Middle East’s roll-call of ancient ruins, landscapes of rare beauty and extraordinary cities whose personalities seem to spring from the tales of The Thousand and One Nights. More than that, the unforgettable travel moments that the Middle East has to offer are almost as diverse as the stunning backdrops in which to enjoy them. You’ll never forget the wide-eyed wonder of that first time you dip below the surface of the Red Sea and discover an underwater world of dazzling colour and otherworldly coral. Or the feeling of well-being as you sit by the feet of the Middle East’s last storyteller in Damascus and he weaves an intricate web of fact and fable worthy of Sheherezade. Or the spiritual stirrings in your soul the first time you hear the haunting call to prayer carried by the wind through the lanes of old Jerusalem.
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Israel has the highest GDP per capita in the region (US$25,500), while the lowest is in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (US$1100). Otherwise, on average Turks earn US$12,900, Lebanese US$11,300, Egyptians US$5500, Jordanians US$4900,
Syrians US$4500 and oil-rich Iraqis US$3600.
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Many travellers fall irretrievably in love with the region in its cities. Cairo is known as ‘the mother of the world’; it is a clamorous cultural hub for the Middle East, not to mention the home of the Pyramids of Giza. There’s also something special about Damascus with its compelling claim to be the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city (at least four other cities, all in the Middle East, make a similar claim); it is a place where the layers of history infuse every aspect of daily life. Call it what you like – Byzantium, Constantinople or İstanbul – but Turkey’s most beguiling city is simply splendid, providing a bridge, in more ways than one, between Europe and the Middle East amid so many jewels of its Ottoman past. And then there’s Jerusalem, a city sacred to almost half the world’s population. If a whiff of the exotic is your thing, the souqs of Aleppo have no rivals. If pulsating nightlife gets you on your feet, Tel Aviv and Beirut rock deep into the night.
Cities have always been essential to the fabric of Middle Eastern life and no other spot on the globe can match the Middle East for the extant glories of its ancient world. There are no more stirring ruins than Petra (Jordan), that most magical landmark of antiquity where the only suitable response is awe. Not far away, the wonders of ancient Egypt, from the Pyramids to the valleys of kings and queens that sit across the Nile from Luxor, similarly leave all who see them spellbound by the wisdom of the ancients. The Romans also left their mark across the region; in the
ruined cities of Ephesus (Turkey), Baalbek (Lebanon), Jerash (Jordan) and Palmyra, Apamea and Bosra (Syria) you’ll stroll down great colonnades and enter ancient theatres so wonderfully preserved that the
extravagance of the Roman Empire seems within your grasp.
If your ideal travel day extends beyond a diet of coffeehouses and old stones to making your own discoveries and leaving the madding crowds behind, the range of activities on offer can seem endless. Diving and snorkelling in the Red Sea – from Egypt, Jordan and, to a lesser extent, Eilat in Israel – is the ultimate aim for diving connoisseurs and beginners alike; combining this