In Abu Dhabi, an Australian woman was fined $2,700, spent 53 hours in custody and was deported from the United Arab Emirates on July 15 for posting a picture to Facebook of a car parked across two handicapped parking spaces near her apartment and adding criticism.
An exact replica of Tutankhamun’s tomb was scheduled to open in Luxor, Egypt, on April 30. The facsimile was a gift to Egypt from the Factum Foundation of Madrid, Spain, the Society of Friends of the Royal Tombs of Egypt in Zürich, Switzerland, and the University of Basel.
In the restored hippodrome of Jerash, Jordan, reenactments of Roman battles, gladiator contests (not to the death) and chariot races are staged twice a day at the Hippodrome, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday-Thursday. JOD12 (near $17) adult and JOD2 child.
The Israeli Opera Company (Tel Aviv; phone 972 3 6086203) will present the opera “La Traviata” outdoors at the foot of Masada, a rock plateau overlooking the Dead Sea, on four nights from June 12 to June 17, 2014.
My husband, Gene, and I joined a tour of Biblical sites of Anatolia, Turkey, “Paul’s Missionary Journeys,” offered by Tutku Tours (Gaziosmanpasa Bulvari 3/303, Izmir, Turkey 35210; phone +90 [232] 441 8676 or 8677 or 8635; fax 441 8636).
