Writing Out Loud
The Roman Theater seats 4,000 The Royal Tombs Poor People’s Tombs We also saw The Colonnaded Street from Roman times, the Great Temple, The Lion Triclinium with a head of Medusa at each end. The Monastery dates to the early second century but was converted to a church by the Christians during the Crusades, hence […]
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Some Fun Facts about Israel: The cherry tomato was developed by the Agriculture Faculty of The Hebrew University Israeli banknotes have braille markings on them Hebrew is the only dead language ever to be revived and spoken by an entire nation Neither Jews nor Arabs allow cremation. There are lots of cemeteries in Israel, including […]
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We have arrived in Italy! Arrivederci Halva, ciao Cannolis! Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, famous for its wealth of orange, lemon, and pistachio trees and, of course, olive groves . To those White Lotus and/or Godfather fans the island is no stranger. We docked in Messina on the Southern tip of […]
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For those of you who don’t keep up with Muslim traditions, it is Ramadan as well as Easter. While we gorge ourselves with chocolate bunnies, provided by room service, our hosts are fasting. Viking has warned us no food or drinks while we are on land in Saudi Arabia. We were also warned no touching […]
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Jordan occupies a precarious place in the world. Its border with Syria is 180km, with Iraq 375 km, with Saudi Arabia 744 km, and with Israel, 350 km. Talk about being in the thick of it all! Our ship docked at the port of Aqaba at dawn. Aqaba is located on the northeastern tip of […]
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Called the “Hundred-Gated City” by Greek Historian Homer, Luxor is set on the east bank of the Nile River. It is a pretty city with a French flavor. The city was once known as Waset, then as Thebes, now as Luxor, which means “City of Palaces” in Arabic. As Thebes, it served as the capital […]
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Some of you may know that Jessica is working on a new novel called The Goddess Conference. Parts of the book take place in biblical times throughout the Middle East and a sizable chunk takes place in ancient Egypt. This part of the cruise is especially important because writers need to see, hear, touch, smell, […]
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In our opinion, no place better underscores the travesty of relying on news headlines for your impression of a place than Mumbai. You’ve just got to see it for yourself. Take the slums, for instance. They do not fit our preconception of a slum. They are beehives of small industries such as leather tanning, embroidery, […]
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Slightly exhausted from last night’s reveling we woke up early to attend a Mumbai Mela. A “mela” can best be described as a cross between a folkloric and a bar mitzvah. It was great fun! Colorful entertainment, turban tying, bangle making, henna painting, and more. Mumbai Mela performers We rushed back to the ship to […]
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Victoria Terminus We were completely unprepared for how stunning Mumbai is. We’ve read many books about the slums, political and religious strife, gang rapes, hotel massacres, and vast disparity between rich and poor. All of that exists amidst architecture that is magnificent and grand, thousands of trees, a beautiful beach that runs the length of […]
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