It’s been 23 years since I first began writing about, and travelling round, the Middle East and North Africa. There have been many unimaginable moments: shopping for spices in Damascus’s Al Hamidiyeh Souq as dappled mild filtered by way of the construction’s intricate ironwork roof; exploring the dusty, maze-like streets of Sanaa’s Unesco-listed Old Town, guided by a gaggle of skinny boys; partying in Beirut’s B 018 nightclub, a logo of Lebanese resistance and joie de vivre; or diving the depths of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea, one of the most pristine underwater environments I’ve ever encountered.
My journey to Luxor, 30 years in the making, was simply one other reminder that there’s all the time one thing else to see. A brand new nook that calls for exploration; new folks to fulfill and be taught from; new views, new adventures, new reminiscences. So, at a time of unrest and uncertainty throughout the area, we current 100 causes we love the Middle East – an ode, of kinds, to the unimaginable folks, locations, lodges, meals, style, crafts and traditions that form this mesmerising, oft-misunderstood nook of the world.
And a reminder, in unsettling occasions, of what endures.