Middle East articles

The trip reviews we had read for the Jerusalem Gold Hotel (234 Jaffa Road, Jerusalem, Israel 94383; phone +972-2-501 3333, fax 501-3344, www.jerusalemgold.com) were mixed.
Here are notes from our 17-day “Egypt and the Eternal Nile” tour, Feb. 22-March 9, 2008, from Odysseys Unlimited (Newton, MA). The cost from New York was $8,210 for two.
My husband, Andy, and I were part of a group of six traveling to Istanbul, Turkey, in September’07 to join a cruise. We arrived early so we could see the city in more depth.
 We visited the Mursi people of Ethiopia. The women stretch their lower lips and insert wooden or terra-cotta discs. We found this, along with corncobs in their hair, quite unattractive, but to the Mursi, the larger the lip plate the more desirable the wearer.
We really enjoyed the 29-day “Bora’s Grand Tour of Turkey” from Cultural Folk Tours International (5631 Lincoln Ave., Ste. B, Cypress, CA 90630; 800/935-8875, www.boraozkok.com).
Bora Özkök of Cultural Folk Tours (Cypress, CA; 800/935-8875) was one of the best guides that I have ever traveled with.
An alternative to taking the expensive flight from Aswan, Egypt, to Abu Simbel is going by minivan with a driver and guide.
You don’t have to be in Cairo very long to realize that the traffic is horrendously congested.
Hotel Sari Konak (Mimar Mehmet Aga Cad. No. 42-46, 34122 Sultanahmet, Istanbul, TURKEY; phone +90 [212] 638 62 58, fax [212] 517 8635, www.