Theme Week East Jerusalem – The Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount

6 January 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  5 minutes

Al-Aqsa Mosque © Andrew Shiva

Al-Aqsa Mosque © Andrew Shiva

Al-Aqsa Mosque (“the Farthest Mosque”) is the third holiest site in Islam and is located in East Jerusalem. The site on which the silver domed mosque sits, along with the Dome of the Rock, is referred to as al-Haram ash-Sharif (“the Noble Sanctuary”), or the Temple Mount. Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey. Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the seventeenth month after the emigration, when God directed him to turn towards the Kaaba.   read more…

Theme Week Israel

21 December 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  13 minutes

Tel Aviv © flickr.com - Smirnova Ksenia/cc-by-2.0

Tel Aviv © flickr.com – Smirnova Ksenia/cc-by-2.0

Israel is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, Palestine (West Bank, (East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip) to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Geographically, the country is located in Western Asia, but geologically on the African continent. Israel’s economy and technology center and de jure capital is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government, self-proclaimed and de facto capital is West Jerusalem. The state’s sovereignty over West Jerusalem is internationally tolerated, Jerusalem as a whole remain internationally unrecognized. Israel considers itself as “the only democracy in the Middle East” and “start-up nation”, with neither goals being achieved yet.   read more…

Taybeh in the West Bank

21 November 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Ralf Lotys/cc-by-3.0

© Ralf Lotys/cc-by-3.0

Taybeh is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, 15 kilometers northeast of East Jerusalem and 12 kilometers northeast of Ramallah in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, 850 meters above sea level. Taybeh has a population of 2,100. It is the last all-Christian community in the Palestine.   read more…

Theme Week East Jerusalem – The Dome of the Rock/Qubbat As-Sakhrah on Temple Mount

18 November 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Starbuck121/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Starbuck121/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Dome of the Rock is a shrine located on the Temple Mount/Haram Al-Sharif in East Jerusalem. It was initially completed in 691 CE at the order of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik during the Second Fitna. The Dome of the Rock is now one of the oldest works of Islamic architecture. It has been called “Jerusalem’s most recognizable landmark”. Its architecture and mosaics were patterned after nearby Byzantine churches and palaces. The octagonal plan of the structure may also have been influenced by the Byzantine Chapel of St Mary built between 451 and 458 on the road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.   read more…

Theme Week Israel – Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba

8 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  8 minutes

Marina of Eilat © Mickeyh/cc-by-sa-3.0

Marina of Eilat © Mickeyh/cc-by-sa-3.0

Eilat is Israel’s southernmost city, a busy port and popular resort located for domestic tourists at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on the Gulf of Aqaba. The city’s port is Israels only port on the Read Sea, with a coast line of about 12 km. Home to about 47,700 people, Eilat is part of the Southern Negev Desert, at the southern end of the Arabah, adjacent to the Egyptian village of Taba to the south, the Jordanian port city of Aqaba to the east, and within sight of Saudi Arabia to the south-east, across the gulf.   read more…

Theme Week Lebanon – Harissa

2 October 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  5 minutes

View on Jounieh from Harissa, seen from the observation deck of the shrine © BlingBling10/cc-by-sa-3.0

View on Jounieh from Harissa, seen from the observation deck of the shrine © BlingBling10/cc-by-sa-3.0

Harissa is a mountain village in Lebanon. The village, which is located 650 meters above sea level, is home to an important Lebanese pilgrimage site, Our Lady of Lebanon. The village is located 20 km north of Beirut, and accessible from the coastal city of Jounieh either by road or by a nine-minute journey by a gondola lift, known as the Téléphérique. It attracts both pilgrims and tourists who want to enjoy views of the bay of Jounieh. Harissa belongs to the Mount Lebanon Governorate. In 1904, Patriarch Elias Hoyek, on the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, announced the foundation of the building of Our Lady of Lebanon. The original church was built by Sleiman Yakoub Hokayim from Batroun. The mountain is called Harissa (after the village at the peak of the mountain). When it was inaugurated in 1908 the Patriarch dedicated Lebanon to the Virgin Mary: “Oh Mary, Queen of mountains and seas and Queen of our beloved Lebanon….” The Patriarch Hoyek designated the first Sunday in the month of May as the Feast of Our Lady of Lebanon. On this day the Maronite Patriarch and all the Lebanese Bishops celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the open air at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon.   read more…

Theme Week Lebanon – The seaside town of Jounieh

28 September 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  7 minutes

Casino du Liban © Yoniw

Casino du Liban © Yoniw

Jounieh is a coastal city about 16 km (10 mi) north of Beirut, Lebanon and is part of Greater Beirut. Jounieh is known for its seaside resorts and bustling nightlife, as well as its old stone souk, ferry port, and gondola lift (le téléphérique), which takes passengers up the mountain to the shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa. Above Jounieh, and on the way to Harissa, a small hill named Bkerké, overlooking the Jounieh bay, is the seat of the Patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church. Residents of Jounieh and the surrounding towns are overwhelmingly Maronite Christians.   read more…

Theme Week West Jerusalem – Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority

19 September 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  13 minutes

Aerial view of Yad Vashem © Godot13/cc-by-sa-3.0

Aerial view of Yad Vashem © Godot13/cc-by-sa-3.0

Yad Vashem is Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Established in 1953, Yad Vashem is located on the western slope of Mount Herzl on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem, 804 meters (2,638 ft) above sea level and adjacent to the Jerusalem Forest. The memorial consists of a 180-dunam (18.0 ha; 44.5-acre) complex containing the Holocaust History Museum, memorial sites such as the Children’s Memorial and the Hall of Remembrance, The Museum of Holocaust Art, sculptures, outdoor commemorative sites such as the Valley of the Communities, a synagogue, a research institute with archives, a library, a publishing house, and an educational center named The International School/Institute for Holocaust Studies.   read more…

Theme Week Lebanon – Byblos on the Mediterranean coast

7 August 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  7 minutes

© flickr.com - Karan Jain/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Karan Jain/cc-by-sa-2.0

Byblos, in Arabic Jubayl, is a Mediterranean city in the Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon. It is believed to have been occupied first between 8800 and 7000 BC, and according to fragments attributed to the semi-legendary pre-Homeric Phoenician priest Sanchuniathon, it was built by Cronus as the first city in Phoenicia. It is one of the cities suggested as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and the site has been continuously inhabited since 5000 BC. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, Byblos is a modern city that still retains its historical past. Byblos remains as one of Lebanon’s major tourist sites due to its rich history and scenic mountains overlooking the Mediterranean. Most residents of Byblos are Maronite Catholics. There are also some Shia Muslims that remain, whose ancestors were inhabitants of the city before expulsion at the end of the 13th century by the Mamluk Turks based on a fatwa from Ibn Taymiyyah. It is said that the city of Bint Jbeil (“daughter of Jbeil”) in southern Lebanon was founded by those displaced Shi’a. Byblos has three representatives in the Parliament of Lebanon: two Maronites and one Shi’a. Byblos is re-emerging as an upscale touristic hub. With its ancient port, Phoenician, Roman and Crusader ruins, sandy beaches and the picturesque mountains that surround it make it an ideal tourist destination. The city is known for its fish restaurants, open-air bars, and outdoor cafes. Yachts cruise into its harbor today like they did in the sixties and seventies when Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra were regular visitors to the city.   read more…

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