Diwan bookshop in Cairo

The most attractive bookshop I found in Cairo for English (and other European language ) books is Diwan. It is in the upper middle class district of Zamalek. The shop is very attractive with a wide range of books in English, CDs and a small cafe. An island of Western culture and decor in this dusty metropolis. Also many ads for English-speaking activities in Cairo

Address: 159,26th of July st. Zamalek

Phone: +202- 7362578

There's a bookshop with a limited selection of English books on Midan Tahrir (Tahrir Square) in downtown but Diwan is in a different class altogether.

Free Wifi in Florence

A few locations with free Wireless Internet inb central Florence

Albergo Paola from www.hostelbookers.com Via Faenza 56, Florence,


Hotel City Via Sant'antonino 18, Florence (south of Albergo Paola)
enjoys a closeness of 150 metres to the main railway station. All the ensuite rooms are fully equipped with TV with CNN, direct dial-phone, free Wi-Fi internet access, air-conditioning, hair-dryer and sound-proof windows. WiFi seems only free if you're staying in the hotel (you get a code to access)


EUROCENTRES language school

Can one enter Syria from Israel?

After checking with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a travel agency in Israel that specialises in trips to Arabs countries, this is my understanding of the situation (which hasn't changed for a long time.

The basic principle seems to be that the Syrians do not want any tourists who either are Israelis or have visited Israel . The only exceptions are Druze from the Golan Heights (even that's not simple - see http://thestar.workopolis.com/servlet/Content/qprinter/20070313/MARRIAGE13 and Eran Riklis's excellent film The Syrian Bride )
and UN and Red Cross personnel.

So a first requirement is a non-Israeli passport which was not issued in Israel. However it is not enough that your non-Israeli passport should not have an Israeli stamp in it (Israeli border police, if asked, will agree not to stamp a foreign passport on entering Israel). There should also not be any stamps from any of Israel's land border crossings with Jordan or Egypt.

This means, for instance, that if a Syrian border official would see an Egyptian stamp from the Taba border crossing near Eilat or a Jordanian stamp from the Jordan River border crossing , he will most likely not let you enter Syria.


Therefore, to visit Syria you must have a non-Israeli passport with no Israeli stamps. You must travel to Syria via another country e.g. Cyprus or Turkey. You should have no personal effects or documents with any Hebrew writing on them and nothing which shows any link or connection to Israel. The Syrians are said to be especially watchful for any Israeli connections of those arriving from Jordan, so best not to enter Syria from Jordan if you have another choice.

If you have an Israeli passport, use your foreign passport to enter the country from which you will be travelling to Syria. If you do not have Israeli nationality and you plan to visit Israel on the same trip that you want to visit Syria, make sure that your passport is not stamped on entry to or exit from Israel. Most countries can arrange (wuth advance notice) to issue temporary second passports in third countries.

Please comment if you have experience of visiting Israel and Syria.

London hotel recommendations

Hotels (and almost everything else) in London are very expensive and I have 3 recommendations for hotels I've stayed in on recent visits - the Holiday Inn Camden Lock, the Premier Travel Inn King's Cross and the Dawson House Hotel in the Finchley Road area (click on hotel names below to access websites).

All 3 are somewhat outside the "downtown" area of Central London but are close enough (max 30 minutes) by public transport from anywhere in the centre.

All the hotels have free or fee WiFi in the rooms and/or the lobby.

Holiday Inn Camden Lock

This attractive, modern and tastefully designed hotel is in a side street of the Camden Town area, nearest (5 minutes walk) Underground (subway) station is Camden Town on the Northern Line. The hotel backs on to the Regents Park canal and is opposite the colourful shopping and crafts area of Camden Lock. The beautiful Regent's Park is just a few minutes walk away. There are eating options for all budgets close to the hotel. I paid about UKP 100 a room (including breakfast) last year (2006) through an Internet reservations site.

Premier Travel Inn Kings Cross

A modern hotel built just a few years ago close to King's Cross railway station in northern central London. On the northen edge of London's Congestion Zone this hotel is superbly located for the Underground (subway) - several lines - and main line trains going north of London. It is not a particularly attractive part of town and the only attraction of note within close walking distance is the modern British Library (the Britisher's equivalent of the Library of Congress) . I paid UKP 80, booked through the hotel's website. The rooms are clean, modern and pleasant. The breakfast buffet (not included) was disappointing.

Dawson House Hotel

This bed and breakfast (B&B) guest house is located in a Victorian house in West Hampstead 6 minutes walk from Finchley Road Underground station in North West London. This is a pleasant middle-class residential area with plenty of restaurants and public transport (underground, buses) on the nearby Finchley Road. The rooms are decent but not modern and there's no elevator (lift). Double rooms are UKP 75. The full English breakfast is excellent.

Train travel in Germany

There's good info (in English) on rail travel in Germany at www.seat61.com/Germany.htm

You can search for train timetables in English at http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Other useful websites:

http://goeurope.about.com/cs/germany/l/bl_germany_rail.htm

http://downloads.raileurope.com/map_of_europe/germany.html


In Hebrew:
http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%AA%D7%97%D7%91%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94_%D7%91%D7%92%D7%A8%D7%9E%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%94

Berlin railway stations

Berlin has 3 main railway stations

- Zoologischer Garten (Zoo) in the West
- Anhalter Bahnhof in the center (now known as Hauptbahnhof – main station, haupt = main)
- Ostbahnhof in the East (Ost = East, Bahnhof = railway station)

All 3 are connected to each other via the S-Bahn (the local train network within Berlin with the green S symbols)

Train timetables in English can be found at http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

There is a fast train from all the Berlin railway stations to Berlin-Schonefeld airport.

See also www.berlin.de/english/visitors/getting_here_away/train.html

tobook.com Europe Hotel online reservations

tobook.com Europe Hotels Guide is a new website I've discovered for online hotel bookings.

It has nice clean interface and a Google map to select country, city and then choose a hotel by location on the map. You can move around the map and zoom in and out in the regular Google maps way.

From my first search (for a hotel in Milan, Italy) it would seem that www.tobook.com strong point is mostly in the cheaper hotel categories.