Category Archives: Middle East

Great Hikes Near Jersualem

In 2014, when I was living in Spain, I published a blog called Great Hikes Near Madrid that I hoped would be useful for English-speaking hikers because almost all of the online info about hiking around Madrid was in Spanish. Four years later, that post gets more traffic, by far, than any other post on thisContinue reading “Great Hikes Near Jersualem”

My Perfect Tel Aviv Day

The saying goes that Jerusalem is about 40 miles and 200 years away from Tel Aviv. So its always a welcome reprieve to drive less than one hour from the monochrome ancient city of Jerusalem and to arrive in colorful and modern Tel Aviv, with its beachy vibes, exposed butt cheeks (it’s the year ofContinue reading “My Perfect Tel Aviv Day”

Getaways to Haifa and Akko

Israel offers some great tourist spots, and they’re all pretty easy to get to being that that country is the size of New Jersey. We have just five weeks left here and we’ve checked off most of the big ones: The desert in the south, the Red Sea, the Sea of Galilee, many jaunts to nearbyContinue reading “Getaways to Haifa and Akko”

Return to Petra and Roman Ruins in Jerash

Remember when my family visited and we had an amazing Jordanian desert adventure in Wadi Rum and Petra? Well, a few week’s ago, it was Mr. Em in Jerusalem’s family’s turn and back to Jordan we went – the land of wide open spaces, mountains, desert, camels, goats, donkeys, and ruins. This time, it wasContinue reading “Return to Petra and Roman Ruins in Jerash”

Terraces, Olives Trees, and Roman Baths in Battir

There’s a quiet, terraced, Arab village outside of Bethlehem called Battir where water from a cold spring flows through an ancient water system to hydrate abundant olive trees and vegetables that have grown here for thousands of years. Battir is off-limits to me for personal travel, as are many towns in the West Bank andContinue reading “Terraces, Olives Trees, and Roman Baths in Battir”

Wadi Wadi, We like To Party

As I mentioned in my last blog post, the parental units came to visit for us in Jerusalem for ten days along with my aunt and uncle and wow, did we pack in a lot. I borrowed a minivan from our friends and we put some miles on their 1997 Honda Odyssey, hitting most ofContinue reading “Wadi Wadi, We like To Party”

Stormy Beach Camping

There was a time when I thought I’d be a person who is really in to camping. In my early twenties, I slept outside in a tent a few times — along the Rifle River in Michigan; in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland; one night on the Appalachian Trail, that time on the lawn of anContinue reading “Stormy Beach Camping”

A Bedouin Goat Adventure

I recently had a weekend trip to top all weekend trips: A group of Jerusalem friends and I drove to Jordan’s second largest nature reserve and spent two serene yet adventurous nights in an ecolodge run by Bedouins and spent a day herding goats with a local. We left Jerusalem on a Saturday morning andContinue reading “A Bedouin Goat Adventure”