Middle East Travel:
Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt
Draft Itinerary
Silk Roads
April 5-24, 2004
Week one of spring quarter, both programs will be doing on-campus orientation work to prepare for the trip. The following dates are tentative, and the order we do activities will vary. This is just to give you a general idea of what we will be doing.
Days 1-2: Travel Olympia Beirut (evening walk along Corniche)
Day 3: Beirut orientation at American University of Beirut, including a lecture by AUB faculty and meeting with student groups; walking tour of downtown (former Green Line)
Day 4: Beirut National Museum; meetings with womenšs groups, unions
Day 5: Beirut Palestinian refugee camp; meetings with journalists, artists
Day 6: Beirut Free day. Possibility of trip to Sidon, Tyre in south Lebanon
Day 7 8: Tripoli, Biblos in north Lebanon Khalil Gibran museum, Crusader castle, cedars
Day 9: Bašalbeck, Zahle ancient ruins of Bašalbeck, good eats at Zahle
Day 10: Amman, Jordan (fly from Beirut) walking tour of souk, downtown and national contemporary art museum
Day 11: Amman Meet with humanitarian groups that do work in Iraq;
journalists (www.jordantimes.com)
Day 12 13: Petra, Jordan magnificent ruins, great hiking
Day 14: Wadi Rum, Jordan camp, eat, listen to traditional Bedouin music
Day 15: Egypt (travel a.m. to port of Aqaba, Jordan for swimming/snorkeling; p.m. boat to Egypt).
Day 16: Mount Sinai. Hike up the mountain where Moses supposedly received the Ten Commandments, sleep at St. Catherinešs Monastery.
Day 17: Two groups split. (Re)Interpreting Liberation goes to Valley of the Kings, Egypt; Silk Roads goes to Cairo.
Days 17-20: Cairo. American University of Cairo orientation, pyramids, Islamic quarter (Al-Azar mosque), Jewish synagogue, Coptic and Orthodox churches, souk, national museum, Islamic museum. Some activities will be organized, others students will have free time to explore on their own.
Day 21: Depart Cairo for Olympia. Arrive same day.