San Sebastian, Pais Vasco, Espana.
This remarkable city is my new favorite vacation spot in Europe. The picture does the talking as far as natural beauty - but the nightlife is what made the city truly memorable. The "Parte Vieja" comes alive every night in the summer as many square blocks of the city become a free-for-all party zone. Every third establishment is a bar, and they spill into the street with revellers.


Palmyra, Syria.
This is a stunning and huge ancient Roman city in the Eastern Syrian Desert. It was 122 (50 celsius) on the day this photo was taken.


Cairo, Egypt.
View of this city of 18 million people from the ancient citadel.


Giza, Egypt.
A classic photo of the sphinx with the pyramid of Chefren and the smaller pyramind of Mycenius. Most people don't realize that Giza is a suburb of Cairo, and about 15 minutes from downtown Cairo. It is surreal approaching the pyramids through crowded city streets - you can see them from miles away.


Aswan, Egypt
Good thing that the Nile is nearby, eh? Otherwise you'd have a better chance of finding life on Mars.


Sahari, Egypt
This was taken in a Nubian village during a wedding with some Nubians I met and hung out with for a while.


Kom Ombo, Egypt
This is a beautiful ancient Egyptian temple between Aswan and Luxor. I took a "felucca" (sailboat) for a few days and we stopped here, amongst other places.


Dahab, Sinai, Egypt
San Sebastians' sister city in the Middle East. A backpackers mecca - beautiful, great food, and cheap (hotels range from $2 - $20 a night). A three course meal that takes 2 hours to eat? $3. More importantly, it's a world famous diving locale. Most people spend an average of "three last days" in Dahab. It's a hard place to leave.


Petra, Jordan
The amazing ancient "lost" city of Petra begins with a long walk through an increasingly narrow canyon. At the end - this was my first view of the glories that awaited. You may recall this facade from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.


Petra, Jordan
This is not the same building, but it looks similar. This is a 7km hike from the last photo, but what a hike! Those "spots" in the doorway? Those are people. This building is $%&#ing huge. And it is all carved out of the same rock - like all the buildings of Petra.


Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel
The "wailing wall" is the closest that Orthodox Jews can get to the ancient temple of Solomon while ensuring that they are not walking on top of the Holy of Holies (a fatal sin). Hence, this is the holiest site in Judaism. In a case of spectacular inconvenience, above that wall is the 1300 year old Haram Al-Sharif, aka The Temple Mount. That is the holiest site in Islam outside of Saudi Arabia, as Mohammed ascended to Heaven here during his night trip to Jerusalem. This small mount is the basic source of conflict for the three major monotheistic religions. Why can't they just play nice? It's hard to imagine Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed really duking it out over this. King David maybe, but that guy was a bit of a loose cannon, if you go back and read the book of Kings.

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