We’re just about at the end of Ramadan – the Islamic month of prayer, fasting and reflection – with Eid forecast for later this week, and my story about best countries to experience Ramadan as a traveller.

It’s a chance to wander back in my mind about nights spent by the Nile, tables laden with small dishes of deliciousness, the ornate lanterns, song and shisha until first light.

Read the story here.

In a piece of dire timing that I’ve come to expect writing about travel in the Middle East, it was published in the Canberra Times and the ACM network of rural newspapers across Australia on the same day the US and Israel started bombing Iran. So while most are trying to flee the Middle East, I tried to convey that (when it’s safe!) far from a season to avoid, for the traveller, Ramadan can breach the divide between tourist and guide, between Muslim and non-Muslim, between them and us.

And, surely, that is needed now, more than ever?

Have you spent Ramadan in a predominantly Muslim country? Any favourites? For those who know me well, my bias toward Egypt is clear (but, as I argue in the piece, well founded). And a friend of mine based in Doha, Qatar, says she finds it’s absolutely the season for networking! While iftar, the meal breaking the fast at sunset is a place to gather and eat, it’s also become a place to do business. Whether doing deals is in the spirit of Ramadan is to be argued, it’s undeniable iftar is a time of togetherness.