Help me go everywhere but Babylon

June 8, 2009 12:57 PM

Middle East Travel Advice: I'm flying to Istanbul next Sunday, and then have about 3 weeks to travel overland between Istanbul and Cairo. Where should I go? What should I see? I need some advice, and first-person experience and anecdotes are especially welcome.

I've been reading through the thorntree forums and previous threads and the travel guides, but at this point I'm saturated with information. There are so many awesome-sounding places that I'm having a hard time figuring out where I should go, what I HAVE to see, and things I really shouldn't miss out on. What made your jaw drop and your hair stand on end? My rough itinerary is this:

5 days in Istanbul
2 days in Aleppo
2 days in Beirut
2 days in Baalbec
3 days in Damascus
2 days in Palmyra
3 days in Petra and Wadi Rum
2 days to get from the Sinai Peninsula to Cairo

I fly into Istanbul Monday June 22, and need to be in Cairo on Sunday, July 12th. I'd like to see as much as possible between those two places. I'm a mid-20's American female, traveling alone, with only a few Moroccan Arabic phrases. I'm hoping to Couchsurf all or a goodly portion of this. I'm planning to fly from Istanbul to probably Gaziantep on Pegasus airlines, though I may take the train, and then do the rest of this portion on buses and trains, except for a ferry from Jordan to Egypt.

I'd love to hear any suggestions you have for Istanbul, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Places to see, things to eat, walks to go on, etc. I'm the 'wander-around-a-city getting lost and finding neat things' type of traveler. I've traveled around Southern Africa (South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia) via minibus and hostels - I'm used to roughing it. I've been to a Muslim country (Morocco), but this is my first time to the Middle East. I'm not really a shopper, especially as I'm traveling light and overland, and I'm not really a nightlife/party person.

I'm hesitant to travel via Israel, as I want to go back to the region and my passport doesn't expire for a few more years - but if there's something AMAZING I need to see in the southern desert regions, let me know. I won't be traveling to Jerusalem for the above-mentioned passport issue. I already have my visa for Syria and am waiting on the visa for Egypt, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Suggestions for the Sinai Peninsula and the rest of Egypt are also welcome - I'm meeting up with my parents in Cairo on the 12th, and we'll all be travelling to meet up with my sister in Alexandria on the 17th of July. Thanks!

posted by foodmapper to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

Palmyra is great, but you really won't need much more than a day trip out of Damascus. It is super hot and vast, and is also just a very large complex of ruins.

Between Alleppo and Beiruit you are going to want to stop at Byblos and the Krak-des-Chevaliers.

Rather than spend 2 days at Palmyra, why not spend one day at Bosra on your way into Jordan? Alternately you could take a day trip up to Ma'loula and Sednaya and hear some Aramaic.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:23 PM on June 8

For the Turkey part of the trip, from Istanbul to Antep, I would take the plane, not the train. it is better and safer. You don't get to see the rural parts of Turkey, but I can guarantee you that you are not missing much.

Couple of things for Istanbul, definitely experience a ferry boat trip. Crossing the city in a boat is an interesting experience if you have never done it before (you should also bring some simit on board to feed the sea gulls). Oh also you should eat hamburger at Kizilkayalar in Taksim. I mean, that is a must.
posted by caelumluna at 4:38 PM on June 8

You can ask Israelis not to stamp your passport. They do it for me at all the time.
posted by j1950 at 6:00 PM on June 8

Are you planning to spend a few days at the Red Sea on the Sinai? You probably already know that Dahab is lovely. Hot this time of year, certainly, but a nice place to spend a few days, and the snorkeling is just incredible. It's got a great vibe, too.
posted by bluedaisy at 12:46 AM on June 9

I'm the 'wander-around-a-city getting lost and finding neat things' type of traveler.

Then my suggestion to you is cut back on the number of places you have on your itinerary. 2 days here, 3 days there isn't going to give you a real feel for any place you visit. I think you listed off half a dozen countries you intend to visit in 3 weeks?
posted by gman at 4:22 AM on June 9

I basically agree with Pollomacho, and let me add from personal experience that Aleppo is amazing—that covered souk has been there since time out of mind and feels like it, and the Citadel, and the Armenian Quarter, and the Baron Hotel (stay there a night if you can afford it, and have the Armenian brandy), and... well, it's a hell of a town.

my suggestion to you is cut back on the number of places you have on your itinerary. 2 days here, 3 days there isn't going to give you a real feel for any place you visit.

That's a sensible position, but there's a real tension between wanting to explore a particular place and wanting to experience new ones you probably will never have another chance to get to. I'm still pissed that I wound up having to skip Damascus on that trip because we ran out of time.
posted by languagehat at 9:01 AM on June 9

and the Baron Hotel (stay there a night if you can afford it, and have the Armenian brandy), and... well, it's a hell of a town.

Honestly, I found the Baron to be a dump. A historic and immensely facinating dump, but still a dump. May I recommend, if your budget allows, Beit Wakil in the Armenian Quarter? By all means you must have a toast at the Baron in honor of Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence, but staying there is another story.
posted by Pollomacho at 9:23 AM on June 9

Thanks for the advice, everybody. Pollomacho - I'd never heard of some of those places before, they sound really neat.

I'm definitely feeling the tension languagehat talks about - I'd like to believe that I'll be back here someday, and hence don't have to see EVERYTHING NOW, but I can't rely on that being the case.
posted by foodmapper at 11:06 AM on June 10

Oh, one more thing, on the way to Palmyra from Damascus you have to stop (almost literally, it is the only oasis between the two) at the Bagdad Cafe (no relation to the movie).
posted by Pollomacho at 5:17 AM on June 11