A Week in Israel with the Pacific Council on International Policy
Introduction As members of a small delegation from the Los Angeles-based Pacific Council on International Policy, we spent a week in Israel meeting among others with politicians, retired military and intelligence officials, academics, representatives of civil society and the peace movement and final...
The Twilight Zone
Leaving our luxury hotel in West Jerusalem we head east and in a short time, we're in another world. Our guide lets us know when we're crossing the "Green Line" or what was the pre-1967 border between Israel and Jordan which divided Jerusalem into two. It's a busy highway now with no indication that...
This Righteous and the Religious
While Tel Aviv is Israel's "hip" city: vibrant, techie and relatively liberal, Jerusalem is really where it's all at! Israel, the US government and Guatemala consider the entire city and not just West Jerusalem to be Israel's capital. The US government recently "moved" its embassy from Tel Aviv to J...
Another Middle East
Land Crossing from Jordan into.....? There are three land crossings between Jordan and Israel, a consequence of the 1994 Camp David Accord which is still in place today. We make the crossing into Israel via the King Hussein/Allenby Bridge which is just a few miles from our Dead Sea hotel somewhat ea...
Four Hundred Below
The morning we leave Petra the weather is overcast and chilly (in stark contrast to the day we spent in the ancient city when it was very hot) and for much of the day, we are treated to intermittent heavy downpours - unusual apparently for so early in the winter. The entire country was hit that day...
Down The Old Kings Road
We leave Amman and head south through a series of dusty and rundown looking villages towards Petra the jewel in the crown of Jordan. We’re travelling along what’s known as “the Kings Highway”, so called because this ancient road once linked three separate kingdoms. The road, along which Moses also l...
The Road to Philadelphia
So if Iran, or at least its big cities could be Europe, then there’s no mistaking Jordan for anything other than the “Middle East”! Mind you, that wasn’t the first impression. The drive from Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport to our hotel could have been in Europe or the US - as we pass not on...
A Few Final Thoughts As We Leave Iran
Our memorable journey through Iran has come to an end after travelling more than 6000 km around the country by train and spending three full days in Tehran. It has been a truly amazing experience and it has to be said quite an eye-opener - there’s an enormous gulf between on the ground reality and w...
Into The Heartland
From Isfahan, our train heads due north to the city of Kashan which lies about midway to Tehran and not too far from Iran’s second holiest city and home to the Supreme Leader and senior clerics, Qom. Unfortunately Qom is not on our itinerary even though on the next leg of the journey, we pass throug...
Empires Come....And Empires Go
We head south out of Yadz towards the city of Shiraz which is situated in south central Iran, not too far from the Persian Gulf. Shiraz is known as “the heartland of Persian culture for more than 2000 years” and the city “synonymous with education, nightingales, poetry and wine” although not too muc...
“A Very Fine And Splendid City”
Heading northwest from Kerman into central Iran, we arrive at the desert city of Yadz. On one of the ancient silk routes from China to the Middle East and the Mediterranean, Yadz was visited in the 13th century by Marco Polo who described the city as “very fine and splendid…and a centre of commerce”...
From the Hottest Desert to the Garden of Paradise
We travel overnight from Mashhad, the 700 km or so south to Kerman in the desert area of southeastern Iran, near the border with Afghanistan. Not a particularly restful night though! The train itself is pretty comfortable, but Iran's railways are a narrower gauge than our Russian train is used to an...
Place of Martyrdom
We leave Tehran and set off on the start of our ten day tour of Iran.... Mashhad is our first destination, located some 700 km from Tehran in the far northeast of Iran not far from the border with Turkmenistan. Mashhad is Iran’s second largest city and for a short period was the country’s capital. I...
Out And About
Not surprisingly perhaps, we weren’t sure what to expect after touching down at Tehran’s Ayatollah Khomeini International Airport. The “Foreigner’s” line at passport control was long, mostly people clearly of Middle Eastern origin, but moved fairly quickly. Our passports stamped, we were then sent t...
Aloha From Doha
Apologies for the mixed greeting, but the rhyme is just too good to pass up!! We’re passing through Doha (in Qatar for those who aren’t too sure!) on the way to Tehran.....yes, Tehran. The start of another fascinating journey which takes us for two weeks to Iran followed by a week in Jordan and endi...