7 Must-Have Travel Tech Accessories
Once the most important travel tech was your film camera, a map, some cash and a compass. Now don't travel without a local SIM card, and a solar charger for your iPhone.
travel
Traveling Slow Benefits You, Local Communities and the Environment
Travelling slow is the opposite of In and Out for the Instagram picture. There are no bus tours or itineraries. Or "we did this" and "we did that". Travelling slow is a way of life, and it might change yours and others'.
Dancing to Connect programs demonstrate the power of dance, especially for youth
English is my primary language, but even if I didn’t speak some Arabic, Greek and French too, I’d still be multilingual. As a dancer, dance educator and choreographer, I have always believed that I speak the universal language. Movement is life. As living beings, we move even before making our presence known to the world. […]
The ‘original iPad’ – 1,200 years before Apple
Turkish archaeologists have unearthed what Discovery News calls the ‘Byzantine iPad.” Dated to the 9th century A.D., the wooden tool was found among a shipyard of roughly 37 ancient ships in Istanbul. The original ‘iPad’ measures roughly seven inches, except it’s thicker and made of wood, and comprises five overlaid carved rectangular panels coated with wax, Discovery reports. “Yenikapı is a phenomenon with its 37 […]
Artsy Dar Ben Gacem hotel awakens bygone Ottoman era in Tunis
To sleep at Dar Ben Gacem is to spend a night in a bygone era. Located deep in the warren of alleyways and vendors that make up Tunis’ labyrinthian medina, this newly renovated artsy boutique hotel offers a tasteful glimpse of Ottoman period architecture and art.
Desert Breath spirals on Red Sea remind us of troubled Egypt’s immense beauty
To many Egyptians, the desert is a hostile place: water is scarce, terror cells hide in its vast expanse, or land mines make crossing them a death trap. But the Desert Breath land art project near Hurghada on the Red Sea coast reminds us that Egypt, despite its many troubles, is a place of extraordinary beauty.
The Iconic VW Van in the Middle East
Volkswagen’s “hippie van” was the preferred mode of transportation for peace lovers during the 1960s, but Brazil is shutting down the last production line this year to meet rigorous new safety requirements. See our nostalgic photo tour of VW vans in the Middle East.
Ottoman Palaces Converted into Gorgeous Boutique Efendi Hotel
Uri Jeremias peered over the roof of his restaurant back in 2001 and fell in love with a large abandoned building. It wasn’t for sale, but the restaurateur persevered, and eventually converted the Ottoman era palace into a resplendent boutique hotel.
The Marrakech Museum for Photography and Visual Arts to be World’s Largest
David Chipperfield Architects have designed a resplendent new building in fascinating, frustrating Morocco, which will house the The Marrakech Museum for Photography and Visual Arts – the largest of its kind in the world.
The “Arabian Canal” is a Defunct Water Conduit in Dubai
In my last post I featured a photograph of an unused structure out in the desert near Dubai, a concrete amphitheatre. It turns out there was more to explore.
Shi Shaoping Depicts China’s Desert Scenes with Eggs
There is something so haunting about desert landscapes, and much as we love our own in the Middle East region, we are blown away by China’s desert scenes depicted through Shi Shaoping’s “The Eggs” art installation.
SIWA Oasis Near Libya to Get Solar from the Gulf
For outsiders, SIWA oasis in Egypt is a wonderful place to visit precisely because “civilization” has been so slow to arrive there. But for locals, the gift of a new 20MW solar energy plant will be received like a mountain of gold.
Fascinating, Frustrating Morocco: a Tour in Photos
Severed goat heads, bloody and besieged by flies, lay side-by-side on a butcher’s slab. A dozen lethal serpents, coiled and poised to strike, wove back and forth before a snake charmer in the Marrakech souk.
Policemen Kill Afghan Kids “Like Birds” While Fishing With Grenades
A group of Afghan policemen have been arrested after one of them killed a group of six boys while fishing with a rocket-propelled grenade, the New York Times reports. Three of them were related to the mayor of Drumbak village, where the incident took place.
Iraq’s Newly Protected Marshes a Huge Conservation Turnaround
We first learned about Nature Iraq’s conservation in a combat zone in 2010. Back then Iraq’s only conservation NGO seemed to receive little ministerial support; three years later and the Council of Ministries has approved the group’s push to protect the Mesopotamian Marshlands as the country’s first national park.