For Christian Pilgrims, the Sea of Galilee in the north of Israel, is as important as Jerusalem. The Sea of Galilee is actually a fresh water lake, known in Israel as Kinneret. Jesus was raised in Nazareth, which is in the region but not right on the lake. A great deal of his teaching was focused on the communities around the lake.
The top 3 Christian sites to visit there are: Continue reading
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Most Ya’lla Tours itineraries include visits to one or more mosques. These are some of the most exquisite buildings anywhere, must-see sites for their artistry as well as their cultural importance. Like all sacred places, mosques have certain expectations around attire and behavior. Here are some things to know: Continue reading
There’s copper in them thar hills! Or, there was. The formations pictured above are popularly known as King Solomons’ Pillars and they are located in the Timna Valley in the far south of our mystery country. The area was heavily mined for copper for thousands of years, from the 5th millennium BCE to the 7th century CE. Some 10,000 mines have been discovered. Today, the area is a national park.
Can you name that country?
See below for answers.
vineyards in the Upper Galilee
Jews, in general, have never been big drinkers, but they have been making wine for use in ritual for thousands of years. Most of that wine was pretty awful, maybe purposely so, to discourage recreational imbibing. If you’ve ever tasted Manischewitz wine, you know what I mean. Continue reading
All the images in this post are courtesy of our friends at the Israel Ministry of Tourism.
Church of Mary Magdalene, photo by Noam Chen
Mona Lisa of the Galilee at Zippori, photo by Itamar Grinberg
Beach holidays are not our specialty. For the most part, American travelers do not cross the Atlantic ocean to lie on a beach. However, many do work a couple of R&R days into otherwise busy cultural itineraries. In any case, while much of the US is still suffering the epic winter of 2015, we offer this brief, mental escape to gentler climes.
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Paradise Beach, Corfu, Greece
This site is located on the northern coast of our mystery country. It’s one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited places. It changed hands as a major port from Phoenicians to Greeks to Romans to various Muslim dynasties to Crusaders to Ottomans, and for a time, was one of the two most populous cities in the country. Today, the 12-century fortress of the Knights Hospitaller, known as the Knights’ Halls, is a popular attraction. The founder of the Baha’i faith spent the last years of his life here and his shrine is the most important place of pilgrimage for the Baha’i faithful. The city is also full of lovely old mosques, churches and synagogues.
Can you name that country? What about the site?
See below for answers.
One of the hottest cookbooks to come out in the last few years is
Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, both born and raised in Jerusalem, Ottolenghi in Jewish West Jerusalem and Tamimi in Arab East Jerusalem.
If you’re interested in Middle Eastern cooking, I highly recommend this book.
Here’s a quick and easy recipe from the book –
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon wine vinegar
½ medium red onion, thinly sliced
3 ½ ounces dates (100 grams), preferably Medjool, pitted and quartered lengthwise
Salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (30 grams)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 small pitas (about 3 1/2 ounces, or 100 grams), roughly torn into 1 1/2-inch pieces
½ cup whole unsalted almonds (75 grams), coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons sumac
½ teaspoon chile flakes
5 to 6 ounces baby spinach leaves (150 grams)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Preparation:
Put vinegar, onion and dates in a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt and mix well with your hands. Leave to marinate for 20 minutes, then drain any residual vinegar and discard.
Heat butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add pita and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently, until pita is golden. Add almonds and continue cooking until pita is crunchy and browned and almonds are toasted and fragrant, about 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and mix in sumac, chile flakes and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside to cool.
When ready to serve, toss spinach leaves with pita mix in a large mixing bowl. Add dates and red onion, remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, the lemon juice and another pinch of salt. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately.
Enjoy!
All the clues in this post refer to one Ya’lla Tours destination: Bahrain, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Turkey, or United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi and Dubai).
We’ll show you images of popular tourist sites in our mystery country, along with descriptions of those sites. Continue reading
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