Selected
JOURNEYS
"Travelling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller",
by Ibn Battuta.
Our journeys are bold and ambitious, and perhaps the flagship of this homepage.
Although we are also trekking and island nerds, our journeys are sorts of trailblazing travel expeditions which are unique, challenging and adventurous, and thus they epitomize our spirit within adventure.
Often, the regions, countries and places we visit during our journeys take on an exotic quality. What matters is to get away from the established routes and seek something that little bit more special and authentic. Often, we might have to overcome a bit of hardship and logistical challenges since our journeys most often don’t run smoothly. This is all part of the fun.
In our view, a journey is something you would recommend to others. To us, what really matters, is to get away from the established routes and seek something that little bit more special and authentic. We are not talking about the ultimate expedition, but to move away from the familiar, out of the comfort zone, where everyday situations and events take on an exotic quality.
Selected
JOURNEYS
"Travelling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller",
by Ibn Battuta.
Our journeys are bold and ambitious, and perhaps the flagship of this homepage.
Although we are also trekking and island nerds, our journeys are sorts of trailblazing travel expeditions which are unique, challenging and adventurous, and thus they epitomize our spirit within adventure.
Often, the regions, countries and places we visit during our journeys take on an exotic quality. What matters is to get away from the established routes and seek something that little bit more special and authentic. Often, we might have to overcome a bit of hardship and logistical challenges since our journeys most often don’t run smoothly. This is all part of the fun.
In our view, a journey is something you would recommend to others. To us, what really matters, is to get away from the established routes and seek something that little bit more special and authentic. We are not talking about the ultimate expedition, but to move away from the familiar, out of the comfort zone, where everyday situations and events take on an exotic quality.
Selected
JOURNEYS
"Travelling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller",
by Ibn Battuta.
Our journeys are bold and ambitious, and perhaps the flagship of this homepage.
Although we are also trekking and island nerds, our journeys are sorts of trailblazing travel expeditions which are unique, challenging and adventurous, and thus they epitomize our spirit within adventure.
Often, the regions, countries and places we visit during our journeys take on an exotic quality. What matters is to get away from the established routes and seek something that little bit more special and authentic. Often, we might have to overcome a bit of hardship and logistical challenges since our journeys most often don’t run smoothly. This is all part of the fun.
In our view, a journey is something you would recommend to others. To us, what really matters, is to get away from the established routes and seek something that little bit more special and authentic. We are not talking about the ultimate expedition, but to move away from the familiar, out of the comfort zone, where everyday situations and events take on an exotic quality.
Selected
JOURNEYS
"Travelling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller",
by Ibn Battuta.
Our journeys are bold and ambitious, and perhaps the flagship of this homepage.
Although we are also trekking and island nerds, our journeys are sorts of trailblazing travel expeditions which are unique, challenging and adventurous, and thus they epitomize our spirit within adventure.
Often, the regions, countries and places we visit during our journeys take on an exotic quality. What matters is to get away from the established routes and seek something that little bit more special and authentic. Often, we might have to overcome a bit of hardship and logistical challenges since our journeys most often don’t run smoothly. This is all part of the fun.
In our view, a journey is something you would recommend to others. To us, what really matters, is to get away from the established routes and seek something that little bit more special and authentic. We are not talking about the ultimate expedition, but to move away from the familiar, out of the comfort zone, where everyday situations and events take on an exotic quality.
Selected
JOURNEYS
"Travelling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller",
by Ibn Battuta.
Our journeys are bold and ambitious, and perhaps the flagship of this homepage.
Although we are also trekking and island nerds, our journeys are sorts of trailblazing travel expeditions which are unique, challenging and adventurous, and thus they epitomize our spirit within adventure.
Often, the regions, countries and places we visit during our journeys take on an exotic quality. What matters is to get away from the established routes and seek something that little bit more special and authentic. Often, we might have to overcome a bit of hardship and logistical challenges since our journeys most often don’t run smoothly. This is all part of the fun.
In our view, a journey is something you would recommend to others. To us, what really matters, is to get away from the established routes and seek something that little bit more special and authentic. We are not talking about the ultimate expedition, but to move away from the familiar, out of the comfort zone, where everyday situations and events take on an exotic quality.
From Europe to the Himalayas along
THE HIPPY TRAIL
Part II
From Europe to the Himalayas along
THE HIPPY TRAIL
Part II
From Europe to the Himalayas along
THE HIPPY TRAIL
Part III
From Europe to the Himalayas along
THE HIPPY TRAIL
Part III
TravelTwins.dk
Exploring the less beaten paths of the world
- look, read, dream, travel!
The Middle East part II:
HOLY LAND
& NABATEAN DESERT
Part II covers the journey deep into Israel's three deserts, the Negrev, Arava and Judean deserts, across Jordan and the Nabatean deserts of Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
This region offers some of the most dramatic and enchanting desert landscapes of sand and rock on Earth. We ventured deep into the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan and the Wadi Hisma (Jibal Hisma) desert in Saudi Arabia on two separate jeep expeditions that took several days.
This region is very charming, full of remote Bedouin communities, bewitching villages and Nabataean tombs. We do a lot of trekking and arrange several 4x4 trips into the deserts.
We believe that these lands still have some of the charm that allured 19th-century explorers into Arabia. It still carries the rumour of a forbidden kingdom – a land worth visiting because it is so unknown, difficult to enter and filled with an air of exotic impossibility.
Location: Israel, Jordan & Saudi Arabia's Tabuk province; ; the entire journey took +5 months
This is leg two of a longer journey across the Middle East. We kick off this leg by exploring the charms and chaos of Jerusalem, one of the most admired, contested and loved cities in the world, with a cultural and religious make-up like no other place on earth. From there, we cross Israel’s three vast deserts: the Negev Desert, the Arava Desert and the Judean Desert. We have seen most of Israel, and arguably the most interesting parts are the desert regions with their many national parks, nature reserves, and the freshest air in the country. Along the way, we choose to stay in charming farm settlements, – either in kibbutzim or moshavim – located in rural areas and shaped by the harsh desert elements. It isn’t the Sahara, but Israel’s deserts are large enough to justify a few weeks here. We complete the desert loop by exploring the Dead Sea, from where we cross into Jordan.
From Amman, we visit all the important sights in the northern Jordan Valley before travelling along the King’s Highway down to the deserts in the south. From Bethlehem to Petra, exploring this part of the Middle East is in many ways like taking a time machine through the history of humankind. It has a historical depth and heritage that can be argued to be among the oldest on Earth. The region has been inhabited throughout the centuries by nomads, biblical prophets, merchants of exotic goods, and conquering armies of the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders and Ottoman Turks. All of these civilizations have left their mark here. History buffs will love finding settlements dating back to 10,000 BC, ancient Roman cities, Petra of the Nabataean Kingdom, Crusader castles and Islamic-era fortresses, the baptism site of Jesus Christ, Moses’ burial place on Mount Nebo, the oldest mosaic map of the Holy Land, and much more.
Finally, we reach the desert region of southern Jordan and north-west Saudi Arabia. This corner of Saudi Arabia is one of the country’s most diverse and visually striking landscapes, a place where deserts, canyons, mountains come together in a vast and largely untouched frontier. We explore some of the most striking desert valley systems in the country, where erosion over millions of years has carved dramatic landscapes into solid rock. Wadi Hisma stretches across a vast and rugged terrain of open desert and fractured rock formations, Wadi Dham is more enclosed and dramatic in character, forming a winding canyon system where steep rock walls rise sharply on both sides, and Al Shaq Valley is defined by its fractured and split landscape, where the earth appears to open into deep fissures and exposed rock layers.
Continue to Middle East part III for leg three on this journey.
Moire travel content in this region:
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If Saudi Arabia is of interest, check our page on how we traveled along Saudi's wild Red Sea Coast.
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For more adventures on the Arabian Peninsula check our travels to Oman, UAE, Qatar, or adventures in wild Yemen.
Selected pics during this journey:
(to see all photos, click Show More at the end of the gallery)
If cities could speak, Jerusalem would have a lot to tell. It is simply one of the world's most fascinating cities. Inside the Old City, which is entirely fortified, we spent several days visiting the different quarters and bazaars. Here. in the Christian Quarter in north. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Christ Churn, Ethiopian Monastery and Chruch of St. John the Baptist are key sights here in our opinion.
A true hustle and bustle quarter - basically one big, mazed bazaar witch reckless merchants, donkeys in the streets and a chance to enjoy hot tea on the roof of a guesthouse with a view to the Dome of the Rock.
Lying atop Temple Mount or Haram Ash-Sharif this time-honoured site is santified and visited by thousands of pilgrims every week. The site has been headlining news events for millennia.
The most important religious shrine for Jewish people all over the world.
The Wall is a place of pilgrmage where Jews come to mourn and lament their ancient loss. We came here to join the shabbat at the wall. The energy pf tje place as groups sing and dance and mourn is amazing.
Studying old rabbinical texts,
The oldest part of Jerusalem, the City of David is some 3000 years old.
A good place to get away from it all inside the Old City! Somewhat shuttered behind high walls and big wooden doors, the Armenian Quarter is very quiet as is has been for centuries. The core of the quarter is one big monastic compound which is very insular.
During a Sunday we would visit the Ultra-Orthodox Jews, which have a glimpse into the rich cultural and religious identity of this religious gruup, better known as Haredim or “God fearers”. They live in a traditional neighborhood, which isn’t typically visited by tourists.
We ecountered a ceremony in the streets. We visited book stores, music stores, restaurantants, a bakery, and a synagogue, Yeshiva. Not all places in the ultra orthodox neibourhood was possible to enter as it’s was forbidden by the local community to allow us to enter.
Visting a Arab school to get their perspective on the world and life n general.
Inside the Catholic Quarter in Old City of Jerusalem. They started by walking along the Via Dolorsa, the route that Jesus is belived to have taken as he carried this cross to Calvary.
We primarily ate in hole-in-the-wall sharwarma joints, but also visited a few tavers to have e.g. Armenian pizza, spicy sauage and mezze.
After Jerusalem we rented a car and headed straight for Israel’s three vast deserts: the Negev Desert, the Arava Desert and the Judean Desert. Nice spots in the north part of the Negrev are Be'er Sheva and Sde Boker where we stopped to stock up on water, snacks, etc. for the many hikes that we had planned.
First stop was Ein Avdat National Park in the north of the Negrev. There are several excellent hikes in the Negrev region, taking in a wide variety of landscapes with lots of ravines, canyons and desert flora.
We found this pool of icy water in the middle of the hot expanse of desert, fed by waters that flow through a canyon. Do get here we had to walk though a steep winding ravine of soft white chalk - incredible scenery. A perfect spot to take in our lunch.
This trail leads from the lower entrance of Ben Gurions grave and into the desert hills and mountains. David and Paula Ben-Gurion lie in a spectacular cliff-top setting overlooking the stunning Wadi Zin and the Avdat plain.
Neot Smadar is located in the southern Negev. The kibbutz was established in 1989, on the grounds of an abandoned kibbutz, Shizafon. Neot Smadar is as an organic community featuring architecturally unique buildings with passive cooling towers.
Did a big meteorite create this vast crater? Nope It is one big erosion cirque created by a unique geological phenomenon, where earth is drained by a wadi, thrus creating a canyon, crater or maktesh (all meaning the same: a big assymetrical hole formed by erosion). Similar unique rock features are found Iran and Turkmenistan. This one is the largest in Israel and it looks like something our of The Planet of the Apes. Locals call it the Grand Canyon of Israel. We spent a few nights.
We spent several days in this part of the desert and did splendid desert hikes. Maktehs Ramon is the biggest crater in Israel - it is vast! There are several good trails inside the crater leading to unbelievable rock formations and moon-like landscapes. Maktesh HaKatun and Maktesh HaGadol are both south of Dimona and they can be reached easily from Mitzpe Ramon village in a rented car. The latter had beautiful coloured sands when entering form Yeroham village.
South of the Negrev Desert we enteret the Arava desert - a beautiful and sparesly populated desert that runs from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, and it part of the Great Rift Valley, running 5000km from Syria to Mocambique.
This national park once had the world's earlist coppermine and the park is dotted with ancient mine shafts, some dug by Egptian miners in the 5th century BC. The red and pink sand is beautiful.
The national park includes a wonderland of geolocial phenomenon as rainfall has formed the granite into strange formations during the past 500 million years.
Ancient, childlike inscpritions dating from the second millennium BC.
A great reserve that includes a variety of habitas and sand dunes, acacia forest and salt marshes.