No, not a measure of land, but the name of a port town immeasurably vital to a succession of empires once upon a time. Acre, relatively obscure today, was a coveted city in its heyday, thanks to its location on the edge of the Mediterranean. …

Aswan is a neatly laid out town, the southern-most in Egypt. It reminds me so much of Shiraz in Iran. Leisurely, graceful, clean and its streets flanked by bursts of bougainvilla blossoms. It was once at the cross roads of the silk route and is …

The drive from Bukhara to Samarkand takes just under four hours and the highway is world class. It was not always this easy to reach this beautiful city. Some of the earliest European impressions of Samarkand come from Don Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, Ambassador of …

Visiting Rome can be a schizophrenic experience.  The city is a modern metropolis striving to establish its contemporary identity in a largely antiquated and often crumbling edifice of immense historic value.  The sprawling cityscape is dotted with gorgeous ruins and exquisite monuments – familiar images …

Watching a program on the mythical continent of Atlantis on the  National Geographic channel, where a ruby-red sun is swallowed by a topaz-blue caldera against the backdrop of whitewashed houses perched on a spectacular cliff, you’d be forgiven for wanting to teleport yourself there at …

Ascending the gateway to the other world is not for the weak-kneed, literally. You have to bend in half and crawl your way first down and then up, groping the walls on the sides of the very narrow passageway.  There is no stairwell, just a …

Whoever said “Esfahan nesf-e-Jahan” (Esfahan is half the world) evidently knew what he or she was talking about. Located in the heart of the vast Iranian desert, this town is truly a jewel in Persia’s Islamic crown. It is an architectural symphony born out of …