MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA

Middle East & North Africa

De Estambul y el Nilo a las medinas de Marruecos y la Petra de Jordania: conozca primero las normas sobre los horarios de oración, la vestimenta y el Ramadán.

Foto: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
The colonnade of Jerash's Oval Plaza

ClásicoJerash Governorate, north of Amman, Jordan

Jerash

Hadrian's Arch, the Oval Plaza and a well-preserved Roman theatre — a complete Roman city from the empire's eastern provinces.

A Bedouin desert camp

ClásicoSouthern desert protected area, Jordan

Wadi Rum

The red desert mountains, Bedouin camps and starry skies of the 'Valley of the Moon' — the setting of Lawrence of Arabia.

Al-Khazneh (the Treasury)

ClásicoMa'an Governorate, Jordan

Petra

After 1.2 km through the Siq, the Treasury suddenly appears between rose-red cliffs — the wonder of the Nabataean trading capital.

The earthen village of Aït Benhaddou

ClásicoOunila Valley, Ouarzazate Province, Morocco

Aït Benhaddou

An 11th-century earthen village — a thousand-year-old staging post on the trade route from the Sahara to Marrakesh, and a location for Gladiator…

Hassan II Mosque and its square

ClásicoAtlantic coast, Casablanca, Morocco

Hassan II Mosque

A 210-m minaret, the tallest in Africa, and prayer halls built right over the sea — one of the few Moroccan mosques open to non-Muslims.

A blue stepped alley

ClásicoRif Mountains, northern Morocco

Chefchaouen

A mountain town painted blue since the 1930s, where the culture of Andalusian exiles meets Berber mountain culture.

The colourful dye vats of Chouara Tannery

ClásicoFes el-Bali, Fez, Morocco

Fez medina and Chouara Tannery

Coloured dye vats in use since the 11th century, in the same city as the world's oldest university, founded in 859 and still teaching.

Jemaa el-Fnaa at night with the Koutoubia minaret

ClásicoMarrakesh medina, Morocco

Marrakesh medina and Jemaa el-Fnaa

UNESCO Oral and Intangible Heritage — a thousand-year-old open-air theatre of storytellers, snake charmers and Gnawa musicians.

Water, light and shadow beneath the dome

ClásicoSaadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Louvre Abu Dhabi

A history of human civilisation under Jean Nouvel's 'rain of light' dome, arranged by theme rather than by region.

The white domes of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

ClásicoAbu Dhabi, UAE

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

82 white domes and the world's largest hand-knotted carpet — the culmination of contemporary Islamic architecture.

A wind-tower lane in Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood

ClásicoBur Dubai, by Dubai Creek, Dubai, UAE

Old Dubai: Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood

Wind-tower houses built by Persian merchants in the 1890s, and the spice and gold souks of Deira across the creek — Dubai before oil.

The colonnade at Philae

ClásicoNile islands near Aswan, Egypt

Aswan and the Temple of Philae

The Temple of Isis on a Nile island — ancient Egypt's last temple, on the border of Egyptian and Nubian culture.

Arcades and shops in the bazaar

ClásicoHistoric Cairo, Egypt

Old Cairo: Khan el-Khalili bazaar

One of the oldest markets in the Middle East, dating from 1382, where spice and copper workshops continue the commercial fabric of the Mamluk er…

The four colossi of Ramesses II on the façade of the Great Temple

ClásicoSouthern Aswan Governorate, on Lake Nasser, Egypt

Abu Simbel

Four 20-m statues of Ramesses II guard the lakeshore; in the 1960s UNESCO cut up and moved the whole temple to save it from the rising reservoir…

The forest of columns in Karnak's Hypostyle Hall

ClásicoLuxor Governorate, Egypt

Luxor: Karnak and the Valley of the Kings

Karnak's hypostyle hall of 134 columns and the pharaohs' tombs in the Valley of the Kings across the Nile — the complete story of ancient Egypt'…

Panorama of the Giza pyramids

ClásicoGiza Governorate, Egypt

The Giza pyramids and the Sphinx

The three Great Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure and the Sphinx — humanity's first great state project, 4,500 years ago.

The façade of the Library of Celsus

ClásicoNear Selçuk, İzmir Province, Türkiye

Ephesus

The two-storey façade of the Library of Celsus and a great theatre for 25,000 bear witness to the prosperity of Rome's eastern provinces.

The white travertine terraces of Pamukkale

ClásicoDenizli Province, Türkiye

Pamukkale and Hierapolis

Snow-white travertine terraces cascading down the hill, with the Roman spa city of Hierapolis on top.

Balloons flying over the Göreme valley at dawn

ClásicoNevşehir Province, Türkiye

Cappadocia

At dawn hundreds of balloons rise over valleys of 'fairy chimneys', above cave churches carved by Byzantine monks.

Inside the dome of Hagia Sophia

ClásicoFatih, Istanbul, Türkiye

Old Istanbul: Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar

Religious layers of a capital that ruled empires for 1,600 years — a Byzantine church, an Ottoman mosque and a bazaar open since 1461 in one nei…