Batroun, Lebanon July 31, 2023 Until fairly recently it might have been a quaint fishing village but Batroun is firmly on map of holiday makers these days. Cookie cutter shops and restaurants line the old stone-paved streets and SUVs brazen their way through narrow lanes with millimeters to spare. Its natural harbor is crowded with … More Not for the Faint of Heart
Byblos, Lebanon July 30, 2023 The promontory of Byblos has seen the march of human evolution in this area almost continuously since the earliest settlements. Each successive era has left behind their own mark and walking through the site is like walking through the pages of a history book. If these stones could speak, what … More A Walk Through the Ages
Baalbek, Lebanon July 28,2023 The Bequaa valley is entirely controlled by Hezbollah and this is where Baalbek is located. I had met a trio of other travelers in Beirut and we set out to make a day trip to Baalbek. The road up from the coast is the usual traffic-snarled road anywhere in Lebanon with … More Heliopolis of the Romans
Beirut, Lebanon July 26,2023 Once considered a rich country and called the Paris of the Middle East, Lebanon was the playground of the rich. But it has been crippled in recent years by a series of crises. The unfolding economic and financial crisis was compounded over the past three years by the systemic failure of … More A City of Surprises
Istanbul, Turkey July 23,2023 This summer was planned as a journey through Mesopotamia, or more precisely, a route tracing the beginnings of civilization through lands of the Fertile Crescent. The dream of a lifetime, it has been fantastic! Although not a part of this trip, I have been to other parts of the Fertile Crescent … More Closing the Loop
Ankara, Turkey July 15, 2023 A passing conversation at the front desk of the hotel in Mosul, Iraq was how I met Mustafa. A couple of days later I met his colleague and friend Selim when we sat and chatted over tea and coffee. Our conversation meandered over myriad subjects and topics in the way … More Welcome to Ankara
Bogazkale, Turkey July 13, 2023 Nobody seems to agree on the origins of the Hittites, nor how they came to this area of central Anatolia. They apparently settled here around the 2nd millennium BCE, assimilated into the indigenous population of the Hatti and took on the name of Hittite. The Museum of Anatolian Civilization in … More Hot on the Trail of the Hittites
Ankara, Turkey July 8, 2023 My disappointment in not being able to see Catalhoyuk vanished in a heartbeat as soon as I stepped into this section of the Museum of Anatolian Civilization in Ankara. There it is! The model of one of the rooms – I had only seen the drawing in the museum in … More Life in Catalhoyuk
Konya, Turkey July 5, 2023 It seems like the city of a thousand mosques, so many are they, around every corner, of all ages. Known to the Greeks as Iconium, most know Konya as the home of the poet Rumi. His final resting place is the mausoleum and it is this turquoise tomb that many … More In the City of Dervishes
Gaziantep, Turkey July 2, 2023 We were seated next to each other on the bus and talked non-stop the entire time. Mirsen is a teacher in a school in Sirnak and is on her way home to Gaziantep for the summer holidays. I was stopping in Sanliurfa but she extracted a promise from me … More Through Their Eyes
ITCHY FEET TRAVELS 