| | Photos of the Mideast below; Israel commentary and more photos to follow soon. But first some Europe.
On the way back from the Mideast I got to stop over in Switzerland. The Swiss' claim to fame is putting together an incredibly developed and efficient state despite a multitude of cultures and rugged terrain- and therein lies the mystery.
While Kyrgyzstan is known as the Switzerland of Asia, Switzerland is known as , well, the Switzerland of Europe. I will say that Kyrgyzstan's mountains are 3000m bigger than Switzerland, so in fact landscape-wise Kyrgyzstan's a super Switzerland. But other than that, Kyrgyzstan falls very short- not a profitable banking sector, not an efficient melding of cultures. Switzerland has 4 national languages, and Zurich is in fact only 70% "native" Swiss, which means 30% 'foreigners' in addition to the "native" Italians, Germans, and French...In fact I had a better pizza here than any I had in Italy...
In addition to mountains, Switzerland is known for cheese, chocolate, watches, army knives, yodeling, and not least, efficiency. I did sample some of the first two, and definitely saw the efficiency as well, which was particularly contrasting to Egypt. Everything in Zurich is automatic, a tech-city built within snowy chateaus. Trains run right on time (though I did see one late), everything is easy, albeit expensive.
 
Zurich Churches are odd and beautiful; and also warmer than the freezing streets.
I never saw any mountains due to the cloud cover, subzero temps and falling snow.I did however see the sun, albeit as the familiar dark disc behind the quickly moving translucent sheet of mountain clouds. I also saw a guy carrying a surfboard wen I arrived to Zurich, hundreds of miles from an ocean in a landlocked country. Especially bizarre considering it was below freezing with snow all over the ground. He said he was on a trip to morocco in a couple of days...solving that mystery... Zurich is also famous in the alternative fashion scene for bicycle messenger bags made by Freitag. The rage for scenesters everywhere, they combine truck tarps, inner tubes and seatbelts, taking old worthless items and making a bag that costs hundreds of dollars. Nice work! And they're even more popular in Zurich, there place of origin.
Zurich has some gorgeous gothic churches (mostly Lutheran but also at least 1 Catholic) and is easy to navigate, and with its broad riverside corridor, its is a perfect tourist city. But it also has a bizarre edge. Quite a few of the paintings I saw in churches seemed like modern art. Also, culture-centrism is here, as everywhere: portrayals of a blond, shaven, short-haired Jesus!
 
A sleepy national center of industry with the highest quality of life of any city worldwide. How does that happen? A mystery!
The first Swiss mystery can be solved by crediting German efficiency but the second Swiss miss-tery is neutrality. Switzerland makes a lot of noise about being neural- never being in war for 200 years, not joining he EU, Keeping their Swiss franc instead of using the Euro, etc, but in practice, they ARE in the EU: even their passport stamp has EU stars. Euros can widely be used and even restaurant bills convert swiss francs to euros. Nice try, neutrals...
Now have a look-see at what most of you are more interested in: the images of Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Here are several of the 1000+ I took:
Jordan
Ruins atop one of the 7 hills in ancient Philadelphia, now Amman, Jordan's capital.
 
The desert of Wadi Rum, Jordan's number 2 attraction after Petra. It was much like the southwest. With Camels and Bedouins. Ameliorator is here looking down at the locale where "Lawrence of Arabia" was filmed.
Our camp with the Bedouins.
That Sea is most definitely not alive. Yes, it is Dead. And very salty.
That River Jordan is not so deep and not so wide. That's Israel (really the West Bank) you can see on the other side.
The promised land that Moses viewed: the view into Palestine from Mount Nebo.
Syria
Old City walls of Damascus, one of the world's most atmospheric cities for the past several millenia
1300 year old Mosquue in Damascus, build by the Umayyads. There's a shrine inside containing what is supposedly John the Baptist's head.
Aleppo's food was, as reputed, delicious! This is tahini and foul (smashed fava beans), with raw onion. A very tasty breakfast!
Inside Annias' house, now a chapel, from where Annias was called to met Saul to give him sight on the street called straight.
 
Outside, inside Aleppo's Citadel
There are a lot of these across the Arab world. Apparently (?) not stars of David though?
If you love the late Hafez Assad, post a neon heart!
Pan Arab unity and (outward) love of dictators, all throughout the Syrian countryside...
Lebanon
Beirut's corniche has some nice views.
Inside a Marionite Catholic Church. Not often does one see Arabic Catholic inscriptions but in the Mideast, especially Syria and Lebanon, there are millions of Christians.
Activist plasterings from the American University of Beiruit
My kinds Lebanese hosts, showing me the good Lebanese eats!
Cooking it up hot in a bakery in the ancient city of Sidon.
The most famous trees of antiquity, consequently now one of the rarest trees in modernity: the Lebanese Cedar.
The Christians fled to the mountains under ottoman rule, but they didn't leave Lebanon.
High above even the Christian monasteries and towns, the Mount Lebanon range hosts ski slopes and the highest point in the Levant. Hopefully I'll hike it next time.
The Palestinian refugee camp outside Sidon. Though it shows basically nothing, I got in trouble with the po-po for snapping this zoomed shot.
 
In Beirut, commercialism and religion mingle (l); inside Harari's posthumously completed mosque (r).
 
If you look carefully, you can see the pockmarks from shelling in these Beirut buildings. Plenty of this all over the city. Things are either spanking new or still bombed out.
The Lebanese military is ubiquitous, including at this crusader castle in Tripoli.
 
Byblos, where the alphabet was born
Hariri joined me an my friend Ali. Apparently he looks up to me.
Delicious Delicious Lebanese cuisine
Shukran!-Thanks for reading!
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| | Posted 1/16/2009 1:44 PM - 240 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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