Tel Aviv is another city that never sleeps
OUR guide Igal explains that in Tel Aviv people never stay at home. “The flat is just for sleeping,” he says. “We are always going out to eat and have coffee. “Or shop. It is hard to go a day without buying something. Even if …
Dubai’s best seafood restaurant is a water wonderland
I was about to order the Sole for dinner. After all I was sitting in Ossiano, just voted Dubai’s best seafood restaurant. It made perfect sense really, but then I looked out beyond the menu and for a second lost myself in the view. I could …
Take a walk across King Herod’s pool
Brian Crisp visits Israel on a driving holiday and find the best hummus in the world and ends up in King Herod’s pool. URI Buri is a man of many talents. Throughout Israel he is known for his fish restaurant in the ancient northern Phoenician and …
Coming face-to-face with Lebanese immigration
Lebanese immigration officials may not like passports stamped in Israel, but the rest of the population is welcoming THE Lebanese immigration officer’s hand was hovering over my wife’s passport. He was just about to stamp it when he stopped, looked up and said that we …
Desert delight in Abu Dhabi’s Empty Quarter
I AM standing at the top of a sand dune in Abu Dhabi’s Empty Quarter waiting for the sun to rise. The desert is quiet, and peaceful. I hold my breath and listen. Nothing. The sun shows itself in the distance and the mountains of …
Muscat loves its Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
THE Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat is a modern-day wonder. As a traveller I’ve often walked through Europe’s magnificent old churches and commented that they just don’t build monuments like this any more. Well, they do. But most of them are Middle Eastern mosques, …
Truth about the Dead Sea
THE Dead Sea is the lowest place on Earth. That’s just one of its many claims to fame, though. Here’s the truth about the Dead Sea Driving through the Judean Desert toward the Dead Sea, it is difficult to comprehend that an oasis of mineral-rich …