Middle East
The Experts' Guide To The World: Beirut
It's Hariri's table, just to the right of the main door, the seat with its back to the street, just where he always took café au lait, just where he took coffee with friends seven minutes before he was assassinated. The murder of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri – via the UN tribunal's indictment of the supposed murderers – has placed Lebanon as close to the abyss as it has been for many years. And for a few weeks after his Valentine's Day massacre in 2005, along with 20 others, the Etoile restaurant kept a coloured photograph of the dead man, grey-haired, smiling wanly, upright at his seat.
Inside Middle East
The Experts' Guide To The World: Israel
Sunday, 13 February 2011
It may seem quirky to pick a busy street corner as your favourite place in a city, but this is no ordinary corner. With your back to the sea, look up the length of the wide Ben Gurion Avenue from its intersection with Ha'atzmaut and wonder at the most beguiling sight in Haifa, Israel's mellowest city: the manicured park, stretching up the Carmel hillside, and the golden domed shrine that is one of the two holiest places in the Baha'i faith. But that's not all there is to this corner, which is not just a junction between two streets, but between east and west, past and future, Jew and Arab.
Iran: A journey from Tehran to Esfahan reveals a country of beauty and poetry
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Christina Patterson discovers an illustrious past and a complicated present-day outlook on the world
Dive in to a magical world
Saturday, 20 November 2010
Oman is full of intriguing forts and bustling souks, but some of its most spellbinding sights are underwater.
Brilliant Beirut
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Dominic Lawson:The Lebanese capital knows how to party, with stylish hotels, sizzling nightlife and plenty of bling.
A child's-eye view of an ancient land
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Scrolling through Jordan from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea brings Classical civilisation to life.
Mishal Husain travels back to the UAE
Saturday, 8 May 2010
The BBC news presenter returns to the Emirates for a family holiday with a difference
Trail Of The Unexpected: Sharjah
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Chris Leadbeater is impressed by the cultural charms of Sharjah
Fishing for pearls on the island of Bahrain
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Julia Stuart: Our hopes are high for a good catch: not of fish, but of oysters. And not just any old oysters but those with pearls in them.
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