Anthony Ham [Planet - Middle East

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The Middle East is one of historys grand epics in the making. Once the cradle of civilisation, now a region where modern human history is daily being written upon the stones of the past, the Middle East is where the lines between historys story and the magic of the travel experience are forever being blurred.

Few places in the world can match the Middle Easts roll-call of ancient ruins, landscapes of rare beauty and extraordinary cities whose personalities seem to spring from the tales of The Thousand and One Nights. More than that, the unforgettable travel moments that the Middle East has to offer are almost as diverse as the stunning backdrops in which to enjoy them. Youll never forget the wide-eyed wonder of that first time you dip below the surface of the Red Sea and discover an underwater world of dazzling colour and otherworldly coral. Or the feeling of well-being as you sit by the feet of the Middle Easts last storyteller in Damascus and he weaves an intricate web of fact and fable worthy of Sheherezade. Or the spiritual stirrings in your soul the first time you hear the haunting call to prayer carried by the wind through the lanes of old Jerusalem.

Many travellers fall irretrievably in love with the region in its cities. Cairo is known as the mother of the world; it is a clamorous cultural hub for the Middle East, not to mention the home of the Pyramids of Giza. Theres also something special about Damascus with its compelling claim to be the worlds oldest continuously inhabited city (at least four other cities, all in the Middle East, make a similar claim); it is a place where the layers of history infuse every aspect of daily life. Call it what you like Byzantium, Constantinople or stanbul but Turkeys most beguiling city is simply splendid, providing a bridge, in more ways than one, between Europe and the Middle East amid so many jewels of its Ottoman past. And then theres Jerusalem, a city sacred to almost half the worlds population. If a whiff of the exotic is your thing, the souqs of Aleppo have no rivals. If pulsating nightlife gets you on your feet, Tel Aviv and Beirut rock deep into the night.

Cities have always been essential to the fabric of Middle Eastern life and no other spot on the globe can match the Middle East for the extant glories of its ancient world. There are no more stirring ruins than Petra (Jordan), that most magical landmark of antiquity where the only suitable response is awe. Not far away, the wonders of ancient Egypt, from the Pyramids to the valleys of kings and queens that sit across the Nile from Luxor, similarly leave all who see them spellbound by the wisdom of the ancients. The Romans also left their mark across the region; in the
ruined cities of Ephesus (Turkey), Baalbek (Lebanon), Jerash (Jordan) and Palmyra, Apamea and Bosra (Syria) youll stroll down great colonnades and enter ancient theatres so wonderfully preserved that the
extravagance of the Roman Empire seems within your grasp.

If your ideal travel day extends beyond a diet of coffeehouses and old stones to making your own discoveries and leaving the madding crowds behind, the range of activities on offer can seem endless. Diving and snorkelling in the Red Sea from Egypt, Jordan and, to a lesser extent, Eilat in Israel is the ultimate aim for diving connoisseurs and beginners alike; combining this with lazy days along the Dahab shoreline could conceivably occupy weeks of your time. Sharing the desert with the soulful Bedouin in the extraordinary red sands of Wadi Rum with their echoes of Lawrence of Arabia, or leaving behind the last outpost of civilisation and losing yourself in the White and Black Deserts of the Egyptian Sahara, are also experiences with an almost spiritual dimension of solitude and silence. Hikers who take to the hills of Jordan invariably make a similar claim.

Such are the headline attractions of the Middle East. And yet its the people of the region who will leave the most lasting impression. Weve lost count of the number of times that weve received invitations to take tea, to pass the time in conversation or to eat in peoples homes. The art of hospitality, with its strong roots in the desert cultures of Arabia and in Islam, is one of the most enduring constants in Middle Eastern life. Ahlan wa sahlan (You are welcome) is a phrase youll hear again and again because many Middle Easterners treat every encounter with guests in their country as a gift from their god.

This warmth that youll experience often on your travels through the region is all the more remarkable given that life is a daily struggle for many people in the Middle East. Poverty and a lack of freedom are quotidian concerns for millions of people here. With the flawed exceptions of Turkey, Israel and Lebanon, political freedoms are heavily circumscribed and people chafe under the old guard of leaders who have, by some standards, singularly failed to better the lives of their citizens. Armed conflict and terrorism are rarer and more isolated in the Middle East than the mainstream Western media would have you believe, but they still darken the horizon of many, especially in Iraq and Gaza.

Far more paralysing are the conflicts over land that seem frozen in time and no nearer to a solution than they were six decades ago. Like a separation wall between historical conflict and a peaceful future, the enduring inability of Israel, the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon to make peace with each other continues to cast a shadow over the region, hindering its economic growth and maintaining almost perpetual uncertainty for many.

All of these issues may be why nine out of 10 people polled will probably tell you the Middle East is too dangerous to visit (one of these nine will, most likely, be your mum). The Middle East does indeed have its problems and dangers. They are, however, far fewer than the prevailing stereotypes suggest. Theyre also far more likely to affect the people of the Middle East rather than travellers, for whom the risks are extremely small. You will come across relatively minor inconveniences, such as not being able to cross between Lebanon and Israel, or finding that an Israeli entry stamp in your passport means you cannot visit Syria or Lebanon. But we cannot emphasise it more strongly than this: many parts of the Middle East are safe to travel to.

To put it another way, the Middle East is a destination for discerning travellers, for those looking for the story behind the headline. Its the story of a region with its feet firmly planted on three continents, of a warm and hospitable people standing at the crossroads of history. And its a story that, having visited the Middle East once, youll find yourself returning to over and over again.