Tag Archives: Middle East

Coastal escapism.

Posted on 01/03/2020 by awtytravels

I needed out. Out of walls, weapons, checkpoints and people convinced of being on first-name-terms with God. I needed a place where bigots were rarer than pandas, alcohol plentiful and the attitude on weed lax. I needed Tel Aviv. Tel … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel, Middle East | Tagged Alfa Romeo, AM-PM, Bauhaus, Boulevard Rothschild, Boutique, British Airways, Bus Station, Clouds, Corniche, Independence Trail, Israel, It, Jaffa, Kite, Kite surf, Kite surfers, Med, Mediterranean, Middle East, Promenade, Saturday, Sea, Sherut, Stephen King, Storm, Sunset, Supremes, Surf, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Wind, Winter, Yafo | 21 Comments

Behind the wall.

Posted on 17/02/2020 by awtytravels

It takes a while for me to get the hang of Checkpoint 300. Eventually a corridor in nude concrete and steel, half prison half abattoir, delivers me in a street cul-de-sac’d by the wall. Closed shops and scraps of paper … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel, Middle East, Palestine | Tagged Abu, Aida, Amman, Arafat, Army, Art, Asia, Banksy, Bethlehem, Bibi, Camp, Concrete, Flash bang, Graffiti, Hamas, Hezbollah, Holy Land, Islam, Israel, Jesus, Manger, Middle East, Nasrallah, Nativity Square, Palestine, Peace, Peace in the Middle East, People, People watching, Photography, Rachel, Rain, Refugee, Religion, Road, Roadblock, Security Wall, Segregation, Settlement, Skunk water, Sponge granate, Stencils, Stinger granade, Street photography, Terrorism, Tomb, TWA 840, UN, Urban photography, Wall, Walled Off, Walled Off Hotel, Yassin, Yitzhak Rabin | 41 Comments

Jérusalem la nuit.

Posted on 10/02/2020 by awtytravels

It’s not a long ride from Ben Gurion to Jerusalem, especially if it’s 4 AM and there’s little, in terms of traffic, to slow down our yellow-and-white sherut van. We weave in and out of the most conservative neighbourhoods of … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel, Middle East | Tagged Bethlehem, Bread, Bus, Checkpoint 300, Christianity, Church, Coffee, Damascus Gate, Dawn, Ethiopian, Ethiopian monastery, Franciscan order, Frankincense, Haredim, Holy Sepulchre, Islam, Israel, Jerusalem, Middle East, New Gate, Old city, Palestine, Sepulchre, Sherut, stone | 21 Comments

Confessions of a graphomaniac.

Posted on 08/08/2018 by awtytravels

Doctor, dear doctor, help me for I’m a graphomaniac. Yes doctor, I love paper. I adore the smell of the thing, the muffled noise of a pencil running on a smooth sheet. In a nutshell, doctor, I love writing. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Odd ones out, Random memories | Tagged Asia, Beirut, Central Asia, Drawing, Graphomania, Graphomaniac, Italia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mapping, Maps, Memories, Middle East, Mitsubishi, Moleskine, Norris, Note, Pamir, Pen, Sri Lanka, Staedler, Travel, Travel literature, Travelling, Writing | 26 Comments

Beirut people watching.

Posted on 23/06/2018 by awtytravels

Humanity is the best spectacle, in this city where gated communities rub shoulders with bombed-out, charred shells. Pneumatically-enhanced bimbos and babes driving Dodge Camaros on one end of the spectrum and ragged Syrian children tapping on their rolled-up windows for … Continue reading →

Posted in Lebanon, Middle East | Tagged Art, Beirut, Corniche, Hamra, History, Mediterranean, Middle East, People, People watching, Phoenicia, Phoenicians, Sea, Street, Syria | 12 Comments

You Were Filthy But Fine.

Posted on 16/06/2018 by awtytravels

“You were filthy but fine” sang James Murphy in that LCD Soundsystem jewel that is New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down and I, for once, think that it could very well fit to Beirut. Spotless, it certainly … Continue reading →

Posted in Lebanon, Middle East | Tagged Antiques, Arabic, Armenia, Armenia street, Art, Cedar, Dust, God, Graffiti, Lebanese Civil War, Lebanon, Middle East, Murales, Photographer, Protests, Stencil, Street, Street art, Writing, You Stink | 12 Comments

Remembrance for scatterbrains.

Posted on 08/06/2018 by awtytravels

Landing takes place at night. We descend into the warm Mediterranean air, those of us sat on the left-hand side being treated to a royal view of the entire city of Beirut lying, invitingly, beneath us. Here is Ras Beirut, … Continue reading →

Posted in Lebanon, Middle East | Tagged Alawite, Architecture, Asia, Beirut, Beit Beirut, Christianity, Civil War, Demarcation Line, Druze, Green Line, Hamas, Hezbollah, Holiday Inn Beirut, Iftar, Iran, Lebanese Civil War, Marina, Maronite, Martyrs' Monument, Middle East, Nightlife, People, Photography, Ramadan, Religion, Skyscrapers, Street photography, Taif, Travel, Urban photography, War | 18 Comments

Approaching Beirut.

Posted on 06/06/2018 by awtytravels

Beirut, Paris of the East. Beirut, mother of laws. Beirut, the city that can be Rio, Miami and 1943 Stalingrad all within the same block. Beirut, the filthy. Beirut, the ironic (another French legacy I suspect). Beirut, you’ve got the … Continue reading →

Posted in Lebanon, Middle East | Tagged Beirut, Cedars, Civil War, France, Graffiti, Holiday Inn Beirut, Lebanon, Mediterranean, Middle East, Phoenicia, Rubbish, Sunset | 17 Comments

“I have never encountered splendour of this kind before”. Visiting Isfahan with Robert Byron

Posted on 25/09/2016 by awtytravels

On paper it sounded like a good idea: visiting a country whilst reading about it, journeying through the physical space and the mental one concocted by a great travel writer, attempting to match my experiences to those of the author. … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Iran | Tagged Bruce Chatwin, Colin Thubron, Emam mosque, Friday Mosque, Imam Ali square, Iran, Isfahan, Jameh Mosque, Maidan, Middle East, Naqsh-e Jahan, Persia, Robert Byron, Shah Mosque, Sheikh Lutfullah Mosque, The Road to Oxiana, Travel literature, Travel writing | 21 Comments

Weren’t all they supposed to be madmen?

Posted on 18/09/2016 by awtytravels

Lunatics. Zealots. Religious fanatics. These were a few of the attributes that friends and acquaintances slapped on the people of Iran whenever the topic came up. Unrequested opinions were offered, together with garbled memories of articles penned down by the … Continue reading →