【推荐1】Lonely Planet’s Middle East is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Wander at the mighty Pyramids of Giza, the last surviving ancient wonder; watch the sun set over the magic of Petra; and explore tree-lined avenues in Esfahan, Iran. All with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Middle East and begin your journey now!

Inside Lonely Planet’s Middle East:

● Colour maps and images throughout

● Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots

● Essential info at your fingertips — hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit (换乘) tips, prices

● Honest reviews for all budgets — eating, sleeping, sightseeing, shopping, hidden highlights that most guidebooks miss

● Cultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience — covering history, people, music, landscapes, wildlife, cuisine, politics

Coverage Includes: Egypt, Iran, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey

Book Details

ISBN: 9781786570710

Writers: Anthony Ham, Paul Clammer, Orlando Crowcroft, Mark Elliott, Anita Isalska, Jessica Lee, Virginia Maxwell, Simon Richmond, Daniel Robinson, Anthony Sattin, Dan Savery Raz, Andy Symington, Jenny Walker, Steve Waters

608 pages, 256 pages color, 90 maps | Dimensions: 128mm×197mm

Next edition due: Dec 2024

【推荐2】Camping wild is a wonderful way to experience the natural world and, at its best, it makes little environmental influence. But with increasing numbers of people wanting to escape into the wilderness, it is becoming more and more important to camp unobtrusively (不引人注目地) and leave no mark.

Wild camping is not permitted in many places, particularly in crowded low-land Britain. Wherever you are, find out about organizations responsible for managing wild spaces, and contact them to find out their policy on camping and shelter building. For example, it is fine to camp wild in remote parts of Scotland, but in England you must ask the landowner's permission, except in national parks.

Camping is about having relaxation, sleeping outdoors, experiencing bad weather, and making do without modern conveniences. A busy, fully-equipped campsite (野营地) seems to go against this, so seek out smaller, more remote places with easy access to open spaces and perhaps beaches. Better still, find a campsite with no road access; walking in makes a real adventure.

Finding the right spot to camp is the first step to guaranteeing a good night's sleep. Choose a campsite with privacy and minimum influence on others and the environment. Try to use an area where people have obviously camped before rather than creating a new spot. When camping in woodland, avoid standing dead trees, which may fall on a windy night. Avoid animal runs and caves, and possible homes of biting insects. Make sure you have most protection on the windward side. If you make a fire, do so downwind of your shelter. Always consider what influence you might have on the natural world. Avoid damaging plants. A good campsite is found, not made—changing it should be unnecessary.

【推荐3】A travel journal is one of the best ways to keep a long voyage in memory. Many details that don’t seem important while you are writing your travel journal often turn out to be so memorable.

    1    . When you are on a busy journey, it is easy to forget to write. You may promise yourself that you will write later, but that almost never happens. Take a few minutes every day and put down your memories.     2    .

Use your “down time” for your travel journal. There is a surprising amount of sitting around while traveling. You can always put down a few lines in your travel journal when you are on trains, waiting for planes, drying your laundry, or waiting in line.

At the beginning of your journal, write down the day, where you are, who you are with, maybe even the weather and what you eat.     3    . Years later when you read your journal, you will know exactly what you were doing on that day.

Focus on writing about how you feel. Listing facts and figures is fine but that isn’t why you traveled. A long journey is a time for self-reflection. Memories of these feelings fade quickly with time.     4    .

    5    . Whenever you use a ticket for a train or a museum or a ride, tape the stubs to your journal. They are pieces of history from your journey. Years later you can look at the ticket stubs and see exactly what you were doing on a specific day and how much it cost.

【推荐1】Eight months after my father died, I saw some letters on top of my mother’s coffee table. They were tied with a silk ribbon (丝带) and addressed to her decades ago in my father’s neat handwriting. I couldn’t imagine my serious father ever writing anything like love letters.

“Would you like me to read them to you?” Mom asked with a smile.

The letters were written in 1974 when my father traveled to Italy to care for his beloved, sick mother, leaving his wife and me, their new born daughter, behind in Toronto, the city my parents called home after immigrating to Canada from Italy in 1956.

Growing up, my father was my hero and protector, but he was also a man of few words, part of a generation of immigrant men who worked hard for a better life.

I sat back while my mother read his letters to me, and thought, “Who is this guy?” My father used endearing expressions I had never heard him say. He referred to my mother as “my dearest” and “my companion” who was always in his thoughts. In each letter, he attached a Canadian one–dollar bill for me and announced, “You and your mother are my life.”

As children, we are sure we know everything about our parents. But, sometimes, we find out that they were and are people with various aspects.

My father was proud and stubborn (固执的), and so was my mother. During their 58-year marriage, their stubbornness often led to conflict. So it was bittersweet to hear my father’s youthful feelings read aloud by elderly mother with a wistful (留恋的) tone.

These letters are only part of their correspondence. My mother wrote back to my father. One day she will read those letters to me. And just as with my father, they might help me discover another dimension of a parent I never knew before.

【推荐3】While diving in the Mediterranean with his daughters, Enzo was in the water preparing to dive. He felt a gentle push on his back and turned to see a male dolphin waving to him. The dolphin dove, and Enzo followed. About 12 meters down, Enzo was led to the dolphin’s mate, who had become trapped in a fishing net and would soon drown. Enzo quickly surfaced and returned with his daughters and a couple of diving knives. They freed the dolphin and helped her to the surface.

Although Enzo held several free-diving records, it was the lives of sea creatures that concerned him most. Enzo devoted his life to educating the world about the link between healthy seas and healthy humans. He often quoted words of a famous musician named Vangelis: “Until a man learns to respect and speak to the animal world, he can never know his true role on Earth.”

Enzo recalls of his dolphin rescue, “As soon as she (the dolphin) was on the surface, after breathing out foam and blood, she gave birth to a dolphin calf (幼崽) under the watchful eyes of her mate.”

Enzo and his daughters marveled (感到惊奇) at the miracle they had just witnessed. While they were still in the water, the male dolphin circled around and touched its beak (喙) to Enzo’s cheek, like a kiss of gratitude.

The world is full of opportunities that lead to miracles if we only follow those pushes. Next door is a neighbor who needs a smile and a conversation, a child who needs a little comfort, or a young mom who just witnessed her own miracle and would love to share it with you.