by Matthew Allison | May 17, 2005 | Europe
May 2005: My friend and I rented a Dacia, a small Romanian-made car, and spent a week driving around Romania, focusing on Transylvania. This mountainous region in central Romania, with an average elevation of 5,000 feet, is steeped in superstitions about werewolves...
by Matthew Allison | Mar 31, 2005 | Middle East
Damascus, Palmyra and Bosra A Glimpse of Syria Before It Changed Forever March 2005: As part of a larger Middle East journey, my friend and I spent three days in Syria, determined to see as much as possible in our limited time. Even then, we sensed that visiting as...
by Matthew Allison | Mar 18, 2005 | Europe
A Stopover in Amsterdam and Haarlem: Bicycles, Canals, and a City of Contrasts March 2005: As part of a 10-day trip to Jordan, Israel and Syria, and even a short layover to have dinner with my family in my childhood neighborhood in Minneapolis, my friend and I visited...
by Matthew Allison | Mar 8, 2005 | Asia, Middle East
Chasing Legends: My Journey to Petra and Beyond March 2005: Jordan had been calling to me for years—its ancient ruins, biblical history, and vast mystical deserts igniting my imagination. But above all, one place stood at the heart of my wanderlust: Petra. Like many,...
by Matthew Allison | Mar 6, 2005 | Middle East
Walking Through History: Three Days in Jerusalem March 2005: As part of a larger 10-day journey with a friend—one that took us through Jordan, Syria, and even Amsterdam—I spent three days in Jerusalem, Israel. From the moment I arrived, I was acutely aware that I had...
