Adventures in the Middle East!

Hello! We’ve been back in the States for about two weeks now and finally feel like we’ve gotten over jet lag! I’d love to look back on some of our adventures and share with you about our time in the Middle East.  In my last update, we were in South Africa and from there we flew back to Amsterdam to connect to a flight to Istanbul, Turkey.

Istanbul is home to 15 million people and is uniquely divided between Europe and Asia. There was so much to see, so we tried to visit many of the top sites, knowing that it would be impossible to fit everything in!  This was our first time visiting a predominantly muslim country and we were in awe of all the mosques and minarets. The most famous Blue Mosque, was under construction on the inside, but the stunning outside did not disappoint. We were able to go inside the Süleymaniye Mosque, which was just as beautiful. My favorite was the Hagia Sophia, built in AD 537 as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral until 1453 when it was converted into a mosque. Aside from visiting mosques, we spent hours wandering the famous turkish bazaars and spice markets. Endless hallways were full of trinkets, rugs, ceramics, dried fruits, any spice you could imagine and of course the sweet treat - Turkish delight. The food was incredible and our visit was not complete without a visit to the turkish bath. In this tradition, every inch of your body is scrubbed to remove dead skin and cleaned in the most luxurious bubble bath massage. I think this was the cleanest we will ever be! This city has inspired our interest in Turkish culture and we can’t wait to come back and explore more of this incredible country.

From Istanbul, we flew to Tel Aviv, Israel. We had a few days to explore the city, and I really enjoyed the modern feel, the gorgeous beaches and of course lots of hummus and falafel!  We took a day trip to the Dead Sea and Masada. Floating in the Dead Sea was one of the things I was looking forward to the most on this trip, and I have to say it did not disappoint! With very little effort your body sits on top of the water and it was such a cool feeling.  We smothered our bodies with the mud from the ocean floor, absorbing all the healing properties of the dead sea salts. We our fresh skin, we headed into the desert to Masada. Masada is an ancient fortress famous for the ruins of King Herod’s Palace which was built in the first century. We took the cable car to the top and the views were incredible. Sprawling desert to the left and the Dead Sea to the right. This was one of my most memorable days of the entire trip!

From Tel Aviv we took the bus to Jerusalem. Zach has family that live there and we were excited to get to visit them. We happened to be there around Thanksgiving, and even though they do not celebrate the holiday, for us it felt nice to be with family enjoying a feast! The rest of our time was spent exploring the Old City. It was helpful to have a guide leading us through the winding streets and showing us the four quarters of the Old City.  The four quarters are the Christian quarter, the Jewish quarter, the Muslim quarter and the Armenian quarter. The Old city is home to several sites of key religious importance. The Temple Mount and Western Wall for Jews, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians and the Dome of the Rock for Muslims. It was incredible to see these sites, but there was an underlying tension that kept you aware that you were in a part of the world that has had many conflicts over these historic sites. It was hard for me to get used to seeing so many machine guns, especially the young people from the military casually carrying their machine guns with them while wearing jeans and a t-shirt. It was an impactful place to visit and I’m grateful that I got to meet so many relatives from my husband’s side of the family.

Our next destination took us to Tbilisi, Georgia. It was the first country in the former USSR I’ve ever been to and was unsure of what to expect. We quickly fell in love with the cities crumbling charm and had a crazy experience trying to adopt a dog! We spent our time exploring the old city, taking a cable car up to the statue, The Mother of Georgians, that overlooks the town. We spent a few days trying the local dishes, exploring the beautiful mountains and soaking in the sulfur-rich water at the historic bath houses. The majority of our time was spent falling in love with a stray dog and trying to figure out a way to adopt him and bring him home. There are about 50,000 stray dogs in Tbilisi and though it sounds crazy to adopt one, there are actually a lot of organizations that specialize in helping you do this. It all started innocently enough, taking a walk through the park when we noticed a four legged friend following us. A mile and a half later he was still with us and had captured our hearts. We spent the next few days contacting adoption agencies, looking for a host family, learning about the incubation period and how to transport  a dog internationally. At the end of the day, time was against us (we had already booked a flight to our next destination) and there were challenges that we were unable to figure out in such a short amount of time. Meeting Tbilisi (of course this is what we named the dog) was such an unexpected experience, but we will remember our time in Georgia fondly because of it.

Our final stop in the Middle East took us to the United Arab Emirates. We spent 6 days in Dubai and took day trips into the desert and to Abu Dhabi.  If you want to have your mind blown, I highly recommend visiting this country. Dubai is known for luxury shopping and ultramodern architecture. Its famous for having the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, towering over the city at 2,722 feet. We went up to the 125 floor (you can go even higher to the 145th floor) where we got incredible views of the city and the desert beyond. Everything in Dubai is larger than life, including the malls. Our favorite was the Mall of the Emirates. It is home to hundreds of stores and restaurants, a 500 seat theater and Ski Dubai. We had to check out this indoor ski resort and couldn’t pass up the chance to meet Gentoo and King Penguins! We spent a day exploring the desert, about an hour and a half away from the city. Here we went dune bashing, which is a special way of driving in an SUV with an experienced driver, over the massive dunes. It was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating. The best part was getting into the middle of nowhere and experiencing the calm, peaceful beauty of the desert. Needing a break from the over the top Dubai, we took a day trip to Abu Dhabi. Here we visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. This is the largest mosque in the UAE and can house 40,000 people. The architecture was stunning and worth a visit. Our favorite part of Abu Dhabi was a visit to the Louvre Abu Dhabi. This museum highlighted Middle Eastern art and was stunning inside and outside. Our final days in Dubai were spent relaxing on it’s beautiful beaches staring at the gorgeous water.

Thanks so much for reading and in my next edition I will share with you our adventures in SouthEast Asia and the journey to get back home. 

Best, 
Ashley

Travel Tip #9

When traveling to a new country make sure to research appropriate dress to be respectful to the country you are visitings culture. It was helpful to always have light weight scarf with me to be able to cover my head and shoulders if necessary.