The Traveling Pancy

Ancient Samarkand was known for both its high quality silk weaving and papermaking – two artisan craft industries that are alive and well today given their importance to Uzbeki culture. Both crafts came to Samarkand via the Silk Road from China, paper in the 7th century, silk weaving a few centuries later, were embraced by…

We arrived in Samarkand at dusk and met our guide, Timur. Likely expecting that we knew little of Uzbekistan, let alone Samarkand, he spent our transport time educating us. A former Soviet Republic, today Uzbekistan is an independent, self governing state of 35 million people whose heritage is a unique multicultural mixture of ancient Persian,…

I knew little about Central Asia prior to this trip, especially the Stans.  ‘World’ history in American education is narrow and only focuses on Europe.  So I was excited to get a glimpse of Central Asia – its history, geography, politics and culture in Uzbekistan.  The city of Samarkand that we would visit in Uzbekistan…

We paralleled the Dead Sea for much of our drive to Masada.  The saltiest water body in the world, nothing but some hearty baceteria lives in this 234 square mile sea, but its minerals and salts are world renowned for skincare and cosmetic manufacture.   The sea is beautiful – aquamarine blue set against a hazy…

The Old City of Jerusalem is complicated, crowded and at times overwhelming.  I was first in Jerusalem almost ten years ago but happy to have a second chance to try to absorb all this ancient city has to offer.  We arrived after dark and shuttled to the King David, a hotel with a rich history…

Israel is a land that holds meaning to many diverse people.  Historically important to the religious traditions of Jews, Christians and Muslims, the history of the region dates back to 15th century BCE and has been occupied by Caanites, Jewish tribes, Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Ottoman Turks, Palestinians and more recently Jews from around the world. …

The flight from Luxor to Cairo was a quick 90 mins – speeding us across miles and miles of barren desert.  From the sky, the landscape was beautifully sculpted, the sun illuminating its many ridges, ripples and tracks . For much of the journey we followed the Nile, its banks a vibrant green with vegetation,…

We boarded a boat at our hotel dock at 4pm for a quick 10 min ferry across the river; then to a shuttle bus that transported us to the Valley of the Kings archeological site.  We arrived just before 5pm as the site was closing and security was escorting the last few straggling tourists out…

We lunched aboard a river boat our first afternoon in Luxor, enjoying a nice meal as we cruised the Nile.  We boarded the boat at our hotel waterfront – a flat bottomed wooden vessel powered by an outboard motor. Painted white, it was adorned with brightly colored wooden cutouts – blue, yellow, green and red…

We left London mid-morning and five hours and two time zones later, landed in Luxor, Egypt. As we boarded our shuttle, darkness settled in, and from the airport we stopped to visit Luxor Temple, its stone façade, five colossal statues and obelisk brilliantly illuminated against the night sky.    The temple was very crowded and…