Israeli Life and Culture
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The "guides" said that you cant get here on foot, but to be honest is pretty easy. So you can make it on your own dear tourism reading this.
Near the entrance to the majestic Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
“Photography, like alcohol, should only be allowed to those who can do without it.” (Walter Sickert)
The highly complex structure and design of the National Museum of Qatar in Doha which got its inspiration from desert rose crystals.
Wadi Rum (Arabic: وادي رم) also known as The Valley of the Moon (Arabic: وادي القمر) is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan 60 km (37 mi) to the east of Aqaba; it is the largest wadi in Jordan. Wadi Rum is Arabic for "Roman Valley", or "Valley of the Rûm", as the Greeks (or East Romans) were called in the early Byzantine era by Arab people, probably referring to Christian Byzantine monastic or ascetic communities in the area, for which they were also known as "monks of the desert", before the expansion of the Rashidun Caliphate.
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I wanted to try something a bit different here, so this is a shot of the incredibly hot Wadi Rum desert in Jordan that has been slightly tweaked in post processing to "cool" the image a bit.
Let me know what you think.
This delightful woman agreed to pose for me. She was having a picnic with her family in a village near Muscat. I loved her frank gaze and strong features.
After hundreds of steps you finally get to Petra's top spot, the Monastery where you can enjoy an awesome view.
Lebanon's Ghost Train Stations have stood frozen in time since the 1990s. Rusting steam locomotives lurk inside war-torn maintenance sheds.
Read more: www.obsidianurbexphotography.com/leisure/ghost-train-stat...
This is the eastern edge of the Syrian desert that the Iraqis call the Western Desert. It is also described as a plateau and historically has been the home to various Bedouin tribes. I have mentioned before that I went to Syria quite by accident when I planned a trip to go to Petra. Syria became my favorite country when I compared my experience there to the time I spent in Jordan and Lebanon.
Recently our Public Broadcasting station aired a movie/documentary on Gertrude Bell. I was enthralled. Have you heard of her? She was a British woman born to an aristocratic family in 1868, She evolved into one of the most extraordinary women of her time.
Her story begins when was invited to Iran by an uncle and fell in love with "the east." So much so that she embarked on many excursions there. She eventually stayed in Iraq permanently after WWI ended. She began her trips though the region by exploring the Syrian desert after asking her father for enough gold to hire a caravan of a dozen or more camels and servants to take her on her journey. Her first journey turned into many more.
Not only did she brave the harsh elements of the desert, but she learned Arabic and the ways of the Bedouins, Their world became hers. She was accepted because the men thought of her as one of them. The English government eventually saw her as a huge asset when WWI engulfed the region. She was deemed an expert and she was recruited to help them occupy the area of Iraq that they had conquered during the war. Ms. Bell reinvented herself as a diplomat and then as an archaeologist who helped the people of Iraq set up their first museum.
In the end, she expressed her conflicted views of her country's involvement in the far away land. Should they be there? What were they accomplishing? She was fully aware of the business interests that the West began to have in the area. America and Europe saw oil reserves and knew it was the commodity needed to control the new age of automobiles and airplanes. This was not why she had chosen Iraq as her home and did not like to see the people she had grown to love be exploited.
Gertrude Bell died in 1926 of an overdose of sleeping pills in Iraq. She left behind the photos she had taken, the brilliant letters that she wrote to her family back in England and a place in the history books as the woman who helped create the Middle East we know today.
The film, "Letters from Baghdad" incorporates her marvelous photos along side of moving pictures taken of the area. When I saw one photo, I thought, " I have seen this landscape before." (Devoid, of course, of the cafe sign.) I must say a feeling of great wonderment came over me, pondering the fact that unknowingly, I had in some MINOR way, followed the a route of this intrepid adventurous woman.
Jerash is the capital and the largest city of Jerash Governorate, Jordan, with a population of 50,745 as of 2015. Located 48 kilometres (30 mi) north of the capital of Jordan, Amman.
The history of the city is a blend of the Greco-Roman world of the Mediterranean Basin and the ancient traditions of the Arab Orient. The name of the city reflects this interaction. The earliest Arab/Semitic inhabitants, who lived in the area during the pre-classical period of the 1st millennium BCE, named their village Garshu. The Romans later Hellenized the former Arabic name of Garshu into Gerasa. Later, the name transformed into the Arabic Jerash.
The city flourished until the mid-eighth century CE, when the 749 Galilee earthquake destroyed large parts of it, while subsequent earthquakes (847 Damascus earthquake) contributed to additional destruction. However, In the early 12th century, by the year 1120, Zahir ad-Din Toghtekin, atabeg of Damascus ordered a garrison of forty men stationed in Jerash to convert the Temple of Artemis into a fortress. It was captured in 1121 by Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem, and utterly destroyed.
Jerash was then deserted until it reappeared in the Ottoman tax registers in the 16th century. It had a population of 12 households in 1596. However, the archaeologists have found a small Mamluk hamlet in the Northwest Quarter which indicates that Jerash was resettled before the Ottoman era. The excavations conducted since 2011 have shed light on the Middle Islamic period as recent discoveries have uncovered a large concentration of Middle Islamic/Mamluk structures and pottery.
In 1806, the German traveler, Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, came across and wrote about the ruins he recognized. In 1885, the Ottoman authorities directed the Circassian immigrants who were mainly of peasant stock to settle in Jerash, and distributed arable land among them.
The ancient city has been gradually revealed through a series of excavations which commenced in 1925, and continue to this day.
Kuwait City (Arabic: مدينة الكويت, transliteration: Madīnat al-Kūwait), is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. It has an estimated population of 63,600 (2006 estimate) within city limits and 2.38 million in the metropolitan area. Located at the heart of the country on the shore of the Persian Gulf, and containing Kuwait's parliament (Majlis Al-Umma), most governmental offices, the headquarters of most Kuwaiti corporations and banks, it is the indisputable political, cultural and economic center of the emirate.
The Liberation Tower (2nd highest building on the right of the photo) is the highest structure in Kuwait. Construction of the tower commenced before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. It was meant to be called The Kuwait Telecommunications Tower. When the invasion took place, construction, which was almost half-way complete, was put on hold. However, the structure received no damage, and construction resumed after Saddam Hussein's forces were expelled on February 27, 1991. Upon completion in 1993, the tower was renamed the Liberation Tower, symbolizing Kuwait's liberation from Iraq. The tower contains a revolving restaurant and observation platform (in the first disc-shaped pod; now closed to the public for security reasons), and also houses radio and other telecommunications offices. The structure stands at 372 meters high (1,220 ft) at its pinnacle. The roof of the second pod on the tower is 308 meters high (1,010 ft). It is similar to the CN Tower because both contain a revolving restaurant, observation platform, telecommunications equipment and the same look.
As in all Middle East, the city skyline is constantly changing also in Kuwait City . The tower on the very right is a new addition to the city scape. Weather across Middle East has changed in last few days and Kuwait is experiencing humidity over 80% from its usual 10%. Change of weather has brought some clouds to Kuwaiti sky, which beautifully enhance colors in the evening sky.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
Focal Length: 17mm
Aperture: f/4.5
Shutter Speed : 1/15
ISO: 1000
Exposure: Manual
Comme celle d'Abu Dhabi, le Grande Mosquée de la capitale d'Oman est ouverte tous les matins aux non musulmans. Inaugurée en 2001, cette mosquée est une des plus vastes et des plus belles du Golfe, pouvant abriter 20 000 fidèles. Conçu dans un style minimaliste tout à fait contemporain, elle associe marbre blanc et brun-rouge. Les cinq minarets représentent les cinq piliers de l'islam.
La richesse de l'intérieur contraste avec la sobriété externe. Le tapis persan posé au sol de la salle de prière pèse 21 tonnes, pour une surface de 4200 m2 et il a fallu 4 ans à 400 femmes iraniennes (Khorasan) pour réaliser les 1,7 millions de noeuds qui le composent ! Créer par la maison Swarovski, le lustre en cristal suspendu au centre est haut de 14 m !
American built oil burning "Middle East" 2-8-2 No. 46232 on the daily 07.40 mixed train from Elazig to Tatvan. 11 April 1975.
Marketplace popular with locals and tourists alike. The market's more than 250 vendors sell fresh fruits and vegetables; baked goods; fish, meat and cheeses; nuts, seeds, and spices; wines and liquors; clothing and shoes; and housewares, textiles, and Judaica. It's the main market in the Israeli capital.
Yearly event commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem in the aftermath of the Six Day War of 1967, in which Israel regained control over their holiest sites. Main part of the day is the Dance and Flag Parade, concentrated in and around Jaffa Street. Some 70.000 people from all over Israel and the world joined in the celebrations.