Pranita Rana embarks upon a wonderful journey to the Middle East alongside her other half. She shares with us the fascinating encounters and experience of this enchanting destination.

Our marriage date had just been finalized. Everyone was busy with the preparations while me and my soon-to-be husband were wondering where we should go for our honeymoon after the wedding. He was serving as a UN peacekeeper from Nepal Army in Israel and joining him for a few weeks had been in the priority list. We decided to go forward with it, but with several more places on the list and over an extended period of time.  Over the next 45 days, we took the opportunity not only going around Israel, but also explore the major tourist destinations in the Mediterranean region.

TURKEY (ISTANBUL)

Once home to the Roman, Byzantine and the Ottoman Empires in different eras in the past, Istanbul took us right back to its history, offering its unique blend of Islamic, Christian and Byzantine atmosphere. My husband’s fascination with history had got there and no wonder he had chosen a place with such a rich past. The strategically placed Istanbul has one foot on Europe and the other on Asia/Middle east, and it truly lived up to our tour guide’s slogan “East meets the West- Istanbul is the best.”

The Blue Mosque seemed to be the centre of attraction for tourists and it was on the top of our wish-list as well.  We were dazzled by its stained glass windows and shimmering greenish blue tiles. Located right across the Blue Mosque in the Sultanhamet square was the Hagia Sophia, a marvel of its own kind, graded among the world’s best and renowned architectural achievements. Built in 537 AD during the Constantinople era as a church, Hagia Sophia was later turned into a Greek temple only to be converted into a mosque by the Ottomans, and today stands as a museum. While the golden tiles lining the interiors of the impressively spacious dome inside Hagia Sophia defied our beliefs, the messages of Islamic faith, Mosaics of Christ, and the ambience inside were simply fascinating and a reminiscence of its past.

Topkapi Palace, one of the oldest palaces in the world, proved to be a historical gem. Once a principle residence of the Ottoman Sultans, the top draws at Topkapi Palace were its architectural beauty, the ‘Harem’(maze of rooms for the sultan’s wives and concubines), the treasury and museum rooms, which simply proved Ottoman dominance over the Eurasian, Balkans, North Africa and Middle East regions.

Visiting Istanbul and not taking on Bosphorus cruise package would be an act of crime. The full day cruise package we took provided a nice overview of both the European and Asian shores of the famous waterway. The package included lunch on the Asian side of the city and a guided visit to the Dolmabahce palace. The Palace looked more modern as it was built in 1865 AD. The huge palace was a blend of Ottoman and European architecture and was later used by the last of Ottoman Sultans. Every item seemed to be expensively assembled in the palace like the Baccarat crystal staircase, and the ceremonial hall with its 4.5 ton chandelier.

The sunset view of the entire Istanbul from the Galata Tower, especially of the old city, was simply breathtaking. Grand Bazaar, one of the world’s largest covered market having approx 5000 shops, was quite an interesting place especially as we ended up winning some bargaining battles with the shop owners. Its top attractions were carpets, leather items, ceramics and souvenirs. The spectacular underground Basilica cistern was a fascinating ancient 6th century water-storage system, once bringing drinking water with aqueducts from current Bulgaria to Istanbul.

JORDAN

Our visit to Turkey was then followed by a very pleasing and enjoyable road drive to Jordan. Jordan was the first Arab country I was stepping into and to my surprise it exceeded all expectations.

The coastal Jordanian city of Aqaba was our entry point in Jordan and also a transit for a day on our way from Israel to other major Jordanian touristic destination. As a popular destination for water sports, we didn’t miss doing some snorkelling and scuba diving before hitting Wadi Rum and Petra. My husband was suffering from slight fever up until we reached Aqaba, but after all the fun in the red sea water in Aqaba, he got energized again!

Wadi Rum, a 74000 hectares protected desert wilderness, was a stunning mixture of natural, cultural and historical site in the Southern Jordan on our way from Aqaba to Petra. Our six hours jeep tour featured widespread petroglyphs, variety of desert landscapes, narrow gorges, towering cliffs, natural arches, ramps and caverns which gave us the very first taste of a rocky Arabic desert.

Petra- the ‘lost’ City

Once unknown to the entire world for centuries, Petra was actually a capital and also a trading centre of the Nabatean empire and presently it’s among the new seven wonders of the world and also a UNESCO world heritage site. Any writings or journals about Petra wouldn’t suffice and no pictures/videos would prepare you for Petra, as you will have to see it to believe. We were simply awestruck at the very first glance of Petra complex to see the engineering genius of the ancient Nabataean empire from the second century BC where palace, tombs, treasuries and monasteries were literally carved out of the rocky mountain and cliffs. Located in the rugged mountains and canyons in the South-western Jordan, Petra alone took us a whole day of walking, camel rides and horse rides to the monastery and back to the ‘siq’. We were completely amazed to observe the varying blends of Nabataean and Greco- Roman architectural structures as Petra was simply an awe-inspiring experience of a lifetime.

Cruising to Cyprus and Visiting Larnaca and Nicosia

Our four-night cruise trip from Haifa, Israel to Larnaca port in Cyprus was very special and monumental in its own right because that was the very first time we both had boarded one of the big cruise liners. While we enjoyed our journey in a very festive environment with approx 1000 other passengers as the eight-storey cruise had swimming pools, exclusive bars and restaurants, spas, saunas, casino, duty free shopping arcade just to name a few. Additionally, concerts and various movie shows made us sail away to Cyprus with sheer comfort. Though we had only a day to explore the tiny island of Cyprus, we made the best use of it by hitting the beautiful beaches and enjoying the seafood delicacies in Larnaca and visiting the momentous buffer zone between Greek and Turkish control areas in the capital city, Nikosia.

As we entered Jerusalem, we at once realized that we had saved the best for the last. Exploring the entire Old City was an enlightening acquaintance.

ISRAEL

During my month long spell in Israel, apart from our international travels, we visited numerous cities and places in Israel and Palestine. Since my husband was stationed in the Golan Heights as a UN peacekeeper we perfectly capitalized the leisure weekend days by visiting Tel Aviv, the beautiful coastal city Haifa, Netanya, Red sea port Eilat, Rosh-Hanikra etc.  But if I were to recollect my fondest of memories from Israel and Palestine it would definitely be Jerusalem and the Dead sea.

Will you believe it if someone told you, that even if you cannot swim you could float in water just like you were sleeping? I didn’t believe it either. To my utter surprise as we approached the sea, I could see hundreds of tourists already on the sea floating as if they were lying on a sofa. We prepared our self for this once in a life time experience applying this “Dead sea mineral muddy pack” all over our body. The feeling was amazing as we hit the water. No matter how hard we tried to go down, we just couldn’t as the water would make sure we float in any circumstance. We literally could sleep or effortlessly float in the water. The massive mineral and salt content in the water at the sea was the reason behind this and due to this no creature could ever survive in it, hence bearing its name “Dead Sea”. A fact worth mentioning is that Dead sea is the lowest point on the earth (approx 350 m below sea level).

Easily the holiest place on the earth, Jerusalem didn’t need any introduction to us before embarking on a three hour drive from the Golan Heights. We had to postpone our visit to Jerusalem on numerous occasions earlier due to the ongoing riotousness and the chaotic situation between Palestinians and Israelis in and around Jerusalem and the west bank. But as we entered Jerusalem, we at once realized that we had saved the best for the last. Exploring the entire old city was an enlightening acquaintance for both of us which no other form of multimedia would’ve given. The old city of Jerusalem consisted of fascinating religious and historical sites. Among all the sites inside the old city, we were most impressed with the Dome of the rock, Temple Mount, the Western Wall, The Church of Holy Sepulchre (Jesus’s Tomb) and the Kind David Tower museum.

Any writings or journals about Petra wouldn’t suffice and no pictures/videos would prepare you for Petra