We fell in love with Naxos from the first moment that we set foot on the island. It maintains the right balance of being lively without being overrun, even at the height of the summer holiday season. It is big enough and varied enough to offer a multitude of diversions.…
This is Iglesia de San Gil y Santa Ana that sits at the mouth of Carrer del Darro in Granada, Spain. A landmark shot of the kind that is frequently derided by landscape photography aesthetes, “Oh, look, it’s another church façade”. Except that in this case, the sunlit façade offers…
As the news from around the world keeps skewing towards negative, I am going to continue with my attempt at escapism through past travel snapshots. I have quite a few excellent shots in my portfolio that were taken in Venice (for instance here or here). And still, I count this…
In our surreal times, we all need a bit of help to take our mind off the pandemic and its consequences, both present and future. In my case – as anyone who is even cursorily familiar with me might easily guess – the thought of resuming traveling once the world…
My Jordan trip was organized by a company called Desert Eco Tours. They handled all logistics, transportation, and accommodations from the moment I approached the border crossing between Eilat and Aqaba until the moment I was crossing in reverse direction. At least a dozen different people facilitated different legs of…
My two days in Jordan gave me two of the most amazing places I have ever been to. We already talked about Petra. The following day my destination was Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is inscribed both as a natural and a cultural World Heritage property. I left practically all of…
The “New 7 Wonders of the World” campaign run by a private foundation in the beginning of this century may have been a popularity contest susceptible to vote manipulation, but only one or two of its final selections would ever be questioned as not entirely worthy of the designation. Petra…
A few locations that I stopped by or simply passed through on my recent tour of Israel did not result in a sufficient photographic output to merit separate blog entries. Nor could they be logically combined with other locations that I covered in a dozen-plus prior posts. This catch-all entry,…
Caesarea frequently features on the highlights-tour itineraries of Israel. It started as a seaside settlement during the Persian rule in the 6th century BCE, rose to prominence at the times of King Herod around year 6 BCE, continued to flourish through the Byzantine period, and then lost its significance after…
For reasons both of my own doing and outside of my control, the Old City of Acre did not get a fair shake from me. I initially planned to visit it with a guide, in the early part of my itinerary, and give it 3-4 hours. In the end, I…
The World Heritage inscription of the Baha’i Holy Places emphasizes their deep spiritual value and the tradition of pilgrimage in the Baha’i faith. I am not convinced that it counts as Outstanding Universal Value, but the two main compounds mentioned on the inscription, one in the center of Haifa and…
Although its prosperous lifespan lasted less than a hundred years, Masada holds a surpassing symbolic value of Jewish pride and resolve due to the circumstances of its demise in 73 CE. The Roman legions laid siege to the seemingly impregnable fortress where a few thousand members of the Jewish revolt…
The Nabatean Kingdom, with its capital in Petra in Jordan, was a major trading power in the Levant from about the 3rd century BCE until the 4th century CE (the last few under the largely benevolent yoke of the Roman Empire). The Nabateans carried their incense trade to the Mediterranean…
Trips to a number of West Bank destinations are fairly easy to arrange through a variety of travel channels while touring Israel. Given the number of holy Christian sites in the region, there is daily a steady stream of visitors that sustain a significant percentage of West Bank’s GDP. My…
I only took three overseas trips in the year of 2019, but the nature of those trips made the year remarkably fulfilling. I visited 8 different countries – Portugal, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Turkey, Israel, Palestinian Territories, Jordan – and all were first-time visits. To be fair, half of those were…
A day and a half was my itinerary allotment to see Jerusalem’s Old City. That appears to be enough to see all of the major points of interest, although in a city with such wealth of historical context, you will feel like you rushed through some of the sights no…
Anyone who knows anything about the world history cannot be surprised that Israel abounds with archaeological sites of note. Eastern Mediterranean lands have been settled by various civilizations across different eras, and they all left reminders of their heyday. In many instances, those reminders are stacked upon each other in…
I spent portions of three different days in the northern part of Israel historically known as Galilee. Although I visited a number of towns, sights, and national parks, that only scratched the surface. This is the area that is incredibly picturesque and heavy on history and archaeology, as well as…
Necropolis of Bet She’arim is a significant monument of Jewish history, but I suspect only a dedicated WH chaser would include it on an itinerary when visiting Israel for the first time. This is not a must-see but it has to be said that it is one of just a…
For reasons that were not exactly in my control, my original itinerary for the Israel trip underwent a few last-minute sequencing changes. I ended up with a bit more driving between the north of the country and Tel Aviv than I had initially anticipated. On the other hand, I got…