More Excess Baggage (BBC Radio 4)

I was pleased to be invited back onto BBC Radio 4′s flagship travel programme, Excess Baggage, which goes out live every Saturday morning to an audience of around 10 million. Last time, in July 2010, I was talking with the witty Sandi Toksvig about my experience on a desert retreat in Sinai, alongside the writer Anthony Sattin (see the ‘TV & Radio’ page of this website for the podcast).

This time the programme’s theme was Palestine, hosted by the charming John McCarthy and with two other guests: the writer of a new guidebook to Palestine and a young circus performer whose troupe of clowns had recently been out to the region to perform to children. I was asked about my experience of walking there: meeting ordinary Palestinians, sharing meals cooked by local women and sleeping in Bedouin tents and village homes. I wanted to give an alternative view to the negative headlines and the stereotypes so often portrayed in Western media, and tell people about the beauty of the countryside and the warmth of the people I met there.

One of my most memorable experiences when in Palestine was hearing a shepherd play the flute to his flocks, which I filmed. Another was hearing the memories of an old Bedouin sheikh, which I wrote about in the Guardian (and added on a previous post) and the life story of the marvellous lady, well into her 70s and the daughter of an Orthodox priest, who runs the Arab Women’s Guest House in Beit Sahour near Bethlehem, which I stayed in and whose profits go towards women’s projects in the area.

And if anyone would like to visit Palestine, and share some of the same experiences, I recommend this not-for-profit organisation: the Siraj Centre for Holy Land Studies, who will arrange a tailor-made trip for you. Other great organisations that offer walking/cultural trips in Palestine are Walk Palestine (or for cycling, Bike Palestine), and Hijazi Travel, run by a professional hiking guide.

Living in the shadow of the Wall (al-Jazeera)

As Christmas came, and carol singers all over the Christian world were intoning the well-loved “O Little Town of Bethlehem“, al-Jazeera English published a piece I’d written when I visited Bethlehem earlier in the year. Sadly, the silence, peace and magic of the city as celebrated in the carol is long gone as the town is now sliced in two by the brutally ugly concrete wall that Israel started building in 2002. This wall has cut off ordinary Palestinian Christians, many of whom make their livings from tourism to the wonderful Church of the Hold Sepulchre, from their means to make a living and is slowly choking the life out of the city. In the piece I wrote about the plight of one lady, gift shop owner Claire Anastas, and others affected by the separation wall. The story ends with some rays of hope, as you’ll see.

Claire Anastas' gift shop, surrounded on three sides by the wall © Gail Simmons

Letter from the West Bank (Guardian Weekly)

This is (probably) my last post of 2011. It’s been an eventful year – uprisings and revolutions in the Middle East have brought many frustrations – but also new opportunities. As well as writing purely about travel I have branched out into more in-depth features: trying to tell the stories behind the news. One of the stories I heard is that of  an old Bedouin sheikh who I met in the desert, near Jerusalem in Palestine. He hosted me overnight in his goat-hair tent, and recounted memories from his childhood over sweet tea and bitter coffee. When he dies, a whole way of life will die with him, as the Bedouin are being ‘resettled’  - not only in Palestine, but throughout much of the Middle East. Here, in 500 words, is his story.

Sheikh Ishmael Ali al-Rashayda © Gail Simmons

Oxford City Guide (Daily Telegraph)

After spending the last few years writing (mostly) about the Middle East it was nice to be asked to write an online guide to somewhere a bit closer to home. In fact it is my home: Oxford. It was great to spend a few days revisiting places in the city I know so well, but as a tourist rather than as a resident. It felt like falling in love all over again. Here’s the result.

Bridge of Sighs, December 2010 © Gail Simmons

Journey to the heart of Oman (Sunday Telegraph)

My journey to Oman last year was a memorable one. Not only for the country’s breathtaking mountain and desert scenery, and her warm and civilised people, but because I was stranded there for a few extra days due to the Icelandic ash cloud. Oman Air, who I was flying with, couldn’t have been more helpful and our excellent treatment was the envy of BA passengers also marooned in Muscat. Eventually I arrived home and filed my copy, which was was first due to be published last summer – but owing a revamp of the Telegraph’s travel pages was delayed for a few months. It was then slated to run this January, but the tsunami of uprisings known as the  Arab Spring put paid to that … So here, finally, is my story of a journey into the heart of  Oman.

A George Cross marks the spot (Sunday Telegraph)

My travel to the Middle East being somewhat curtailed by recent events (this is the first year in the past few that I’ve not visited Syria), I’ve had to travel a little nearer to home this year. But not too near – in October I went to Malta and Gozo, two islands which, though in Europe, sit pretty close to the North African coast. Gozo was beautiful and tranquil – and I’ll be writing about that island next year – and Malta was fascinating for its history and melange of culture and languages (a dialect of Arabic written in the Latin script, with a generous smattering of Italian  thrown in). Two great events shaped Malta’s history – the Great Siege by the Ottomans in 1565 and the Siege of Malta during World War II (1940-1942). The  Baroque architecture of its capital, Valletta, and the silent, ancient streets of its former capital, Mdina, enchanted me and I wrote about the cities in a piece just published by the Sunday Telegraph.

Amman, Jordan: a cultural city (Sunday Telegraph)

Amman is the first Middle Eastern capital I visited, and always enjoy going back. It’s not an obvious destination – in fact, it’s not really  a ‘destination’ all, and is usually only visited as a springboard for trips to some of Jordan’s other, better-known glories such as Petra (of course) or the Dead Sea. But I find it a congenial, easy city to be in, with a thriving arts scene, good bookshops (with lots of English language books) and nice coffee bars. And it has one amazing ruin, the citadel, towering over the city centre. My cultural guide to Amman, published in the Sunday Telegraph after a long delay due to the Arab Spring, is here.

Five Reasons to Visit Beirut (TIME Magazine)

In December 2010 I made my first, longed-for trip to Lebanon. Like many before me I was struck by the dynamism of its capital, Beirut, fascinated by its ancient cities, and overwhelmed by the beauty of its landscape. As well as Beirut I travelled to the old port of Byblos (where the word Bible comes from), the cities of Tyre and Sidon, and to the Bekaa valley, where I explored the great Roman ruins of Ba’albek and sampled fine wines at one of the oldest wineries in the country (founded by the Jesuits in the 19th century). When I came home I wrote a short piece for TIME magazine, which was due to run in early 2011. But then a young man called Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself in Tunisia, a wave of uprisings swept the Arab world, and my piece was put on hold. This was supremely ironic as when I was in Beirut the talk there was all about factional troubles in Lebanon brewing once again – in fact it turned out to be the most peaceful of countries in the region, and my story has now been published.

And here are some photos I took in Lebanon.

Croatia’s Dalmatian Rescue (TIME Magazine)

When the Arab Spring cut short my Middle Eastern travels I looked for stories closer to home. Croatia has always fascinated me : its long history poised between East and West, and latterly the civil wars of the 1990s that so ravaged the countries that make up the former Yugoslavia. So when I received an invitation to Dubrovnik, I jumped at the chance and wrote a small piece for TIME Magazine on one of the hotels there, the Libertas, which offered sanctuary to local villagers during the Serbo-Montenegrin bombardment of the city.

Iconic War Hotels (al-Jazeera)

In February this year I went to Libya to write about the calm (as it was then), beautiful city of Tripoli. A week after I returned the uprising began, and the hotel I was staying in, the al-Nasr Rixos, became the home – and later the focus – of the world’s media. When the journalists trapped inside had been safely freed, I wrote a story for al-Jazeera on hotels which have become synonymous with the wars, which has just been published.