Lonely Planet Middle East , livre ebook

Middle East

Contents

PLAN YOUR TRIP

Welcome to the Middle East
The Middle East’s Top 21
Need to Know
What’s New
If You Like…
Month by Month
Itineraries
Visas & Border Crossings
Activities
Travel with Children
Countries at a Glance

On The Road

EGYPT
Cairo
Saqqara, Memphis & Dahshur
Mediterranean Coast
Alexandria
Nile Valley
Luxor
Esna
Edfu
Kom Ombo
Aswan
Philae (Agilika Island)
High Dam
Abu Simbel
Western Oases
Al Kharga Oasis
Dakhla Oasis
Bahariya Oasis
Siwa Oasis
Red Sea Coast
El Gouna
Hurghada
Marsa Alam
South Sinai
Ras Mohammed National Park
Sharm el-Sheikh
Dahab
St Katherine Protectorate
Nuweiba
Taba
Understand Egypt
Survival Guide
IRAN
Tehran
Western Iran
Tabriz
Kandovan
Qazvin
Alamut Valley
Central Iran
Kashan
Esfahan
Yazd
Shiraz
Persepolis
Naqsh-e Rostam & Naqsh-e Rajab
Pasargadae
Northeastern Iran
Mashhad
Understand Iran
Survival Guide
IRAQ
Iraq Explained
History
People & Society
Further Information
ISRAEL & THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
Jerusalem
Mediterranean Coast
Tel Aviv-Jaffa (Yafo)
Caesarea
Haifa
Akko
Lower Galilee & Sea of Galilee
Nazareth
Tiberias
Sea of Galilee
Beit She’an
Upper Galilee & Golan Heights
Tsfat (Safed)
Golan Heights
Dead Sea
Ein Gedi
Masada
Ein Bokek
The Negev
Mitzpe Ramon
Eilat
West Bank
Ramallah
Jericho & Around
Bethlehem
Nablus
Jenin
Gaza Strip
Understand Israel & the Palestinian Territories
Survival Guide
JORDAN
Amman
Jerash & the North
Jerash
Ajloun
Ajloun Forest Reserve
Irbid
Umm Qais (Gadara)
Dead Sea & the West
Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan (Al-Maghtas)
Dead Sea
Mujib Biosphere Reserve
Azraq & the East
Hallabat
Azraq
Around Azraq
Madaba & the King’s Highway
Madaba
Mt Nebo
Machaerus (Mukawir)
Karak
Tafila
Dana Biosphere Reserve
Shobak
Petra & the South
Petra & Wadi Musa
Wadi Rum
Aqaba
Understand Jordan
Survival Guide
LEBANON
Beirut
Central Lebanon
Jeita Grotto
Byblos (Jbail)
North Lebanon
Batroun
Tripoli (Trablous)
The Qadisha Valley
South Lebanon
Sidon (Saida)
Tyre (Sour)
Chouf Mountains
Deir Al Qamar
Bekaa Valley
Baalbek
Understand Lebanon
Survival Guide
SYRIA
Syria Explained
History
People & Society
Further Information
TURKEY
İstanbul
Aegean Coast
Çanakkale
Troy
Eceabat
Gallipoli Peninsula
Bursa
Bergama (Pergamum)
İzmır
Selçuk
Ephesus
Kuşadası
Pamukkale
Bodrum Town
Marmaris
Mediterranean Coast
Fethiye
Patara
Kalkan
Kaş
Olympos & Çıralı
Antalya
Side
Alanya
Central Anatolia
Ankara
Safranbolu
Konya
Cappadocia
Göreme
Avanos
Ürgüp
Kayseri
Black Sea Coast & Northeastern Anatolia
Trabzon
Erzurum
Kars
Doğubayazıt
Understand Turkey
Survival Guide

UNDERSTAND

Understand the Middle East
The Middle East Today
History
Religion
Architecture
Middle Eastern Cuisine
The Arts
Landscape & Environment

SURVIVAL GUIDE

Traveller Etiquette
Safe Travel
Women Travellers
Directory A–Z
Accommodation
Customs Regulations
Discount Cards
Embassies & Consulates
Emergency & Important Numbers
Gay & Lesbian Travellers
Insurance
Internet Acccess
Legal Matters
Money
Opening Hours
Photography
Post
Public Holidays
Telephone
Time
Toilets
Tourist Information
Travellers with Disabilities
Volunteering
Work
Transport
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Entering the Middle East
Air
Land
Sea
Tours
GETTING AROUND
Air
Bicycle
Boat
Bus
Car & Motorcycle
Hitching
Taxi
Train
Health
BEFORE YOU GO
IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Language
Behind the Scenes
Our Writers
Welcome to the Middle East

The Middle East is a grand epic, a cradle of civilisations and a beautiful, complicated land that’s home to some of the planet’s most hospitable people.

History Writ Large
In the Middle East, history is not something you read about in books. Here, it’s a story written on the stones that litter the region, from the flagstones of old Roman roads to the building blocks of Ancient Egypt, and the delicately carved tombs and temples from Petra to Persepolis. This is where humankind first built cities and learned to write, and it was from here that Judaism, Christianity and Islam all arose. Wherever you find yourself, the past is always present because here, perhaps more than anywhere else on earth, history is the heart and soul of the land.

Home of Hospitality
At some point on your visit to the Middle East, you’ll be sitting in a coffeehouse or looking lost in a labyrinth of narrow lanes when someone will strike up a conversation and, within minutes, invite you home to meet their family and share a meal. Or someone will simply approach and say with unmistakable warmth, ‘Welcome’. These spontaneous, disarming and utterly genuine words of welcome can occur anywhere across the region. And when they do, they can suddenly (and forever) change the way you see the Middle East.

Cities
The Middle East’s cities read like a roll-call of historical heavyweights: Jerusalem, Beirut, Cairo, İstanbul, Esfahan… Aside from ranking among the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, these ancient-modern metropolises are places to take the pulse of a region. It is in the Middle East’s cities, too, that you find the stirring, aspirational architecture that so distinguishes the three great monotheistic faiths. There they sit alongside the more secular charms of bazaars and coffee shops that seem to embody all the mystery and storytelling magic of a land that gave us The Thousand and One Nights .

Wilderness
Beyond city limits, the Middle East is a land of mighty rivers (the Nile, Euphrates), even mightier deserts (the Sahara and peerless Wadi Rum) and green landscapes of exceptional beauty. Exploring these wilderness areas – from snow-capped summits in Turkey, Iran and Lebanon to the kaleidoscopic waters of the Red Sea – lies at the heart of the region’s appeal. The message is simple: forget the clichés that masquerade as Middle Eastern truth – a visit here is one of the most varied and soulful travel experiences on earth.

Petra’s Siq , Jordan | JOHN_WALKER/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Why I Love the Middle East
By Anthony Ham, Writer
I first fell for the Middle East in Damascus. Here was a city of storytellers, of warm and welcoming people, of history brought alive at every turn. Ten years later (a decade in which I had marvelled at the peerless beauty of Esfahan and struck out into the Sahara at Siwa, among many Middle Eastern journeys), I returned to Damascus and fell in love all over again. War has since engulfed the country, but Damascus, and the Middle East, has seen it all before. And nowhere else on earth have I encountered such warmth from ordinary people.
For more, see our writers
The Middle East’s Top 21
Petra, Jordan
The ancient Nabataean city of Petra is one of the Middle East’s most treasured attractions, and it’s a place utterly unlike anywhere else on earth. Entering through the impossibly narrow canyon feels like discovering a hidden treasure, and when the sun sets over the honeycombed landscape of tombs, carved facades and pillars all hewn from the rose-red sandstone cliffs, it’s a hard-hearted visitor who’s left unaffected by its magic. Allow a couple of days to do the site justice and to visit the main monuments at optimum times of the day.

Monastery | TENKL/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Top Experiences
Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
Towering over both the urban sprawl of Cairo and the desert plains beyond, the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx are at the top of every traveller’s itinerary. Yes, you’ll have to fend off hordes of people pushing horse rides and Bedouin headdresses to enjoy this ancient funerary complex, but your persistence will be rewarded with one of the region’s signature experiences – no trip to Egypt is complete without a photo of you in front of the last surviving ancient wonder of the world.

Sphinx | ANTON BELO/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Top Experiences
Dome of the Rock, Israel & the Palestinian Territories
Few places on earth excite emotions to quite the same extent as Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock , a gold-plated mosque of singular beauty. Sacred to Muslims, Jews and Christians alike – it was said to be here that Abraham showed his readiness to sacrifice his son to God, and from here that Mohammed ascended to heaven – it’s an epicentre of religious convergence and conflict. But after a visit, it’s usually the unmistakable spiritual dimension that lives longest in the memory.

BIBIANA CASTAGNA/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Top Experiences
Esfahan, Iran
There are few more beautiful places on the planet than Esfahan’s bejewelled core. The city’s blue-tiled mosques, intricate and exquisite, share the city centre with refined pleasure palaces and elegant arched bridges, all within sight of expansive gardens, tree-lined boulevards and a central square that brims with life. Tea houses, hidden away beneath the arches and throughout the splendid bazaar, are another wonderful entry point into this most beguiling of cities. It’s easily Iran’s most beautiful urban core, and possibly one of the most beautiful on earth.

EFESENKO/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Top Experiences
Cruising the Nile, Egypt
The Nile is Egypt’s lifeline, an artery that feeds the entire country, from south to north. Only by setting adrift on it can you appreciate its importance and its beauty, and more practically, only by boat, preferably a wind-propelled felucca , can you see some archaeological sites as they were meant to be seen – from the waters of the Nile. Sailing is the slowest and most relaxing way to go, but even from the deck of a multistorey floating hotel, you’ll still glimpse the magic.

ANTON_IVANOV/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Top Experiences
Wadi Rum, Jordan
It wasn’t just the sublime vista of W