culture | GlobalSalsa: travel writer Belinda Jackson

Aug

Best things to do in Cairo, how to guarantee a sunny holiday & things left in Ubers: The World Awaits podcast

You’ve booked a holiday to Egypt, but the Grand Egyptian Museum’s (GEM) opening has been postponed…again! “All is not lost!” I say!

Listen on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-106-the-new-cairo-with-belle-jackson-avoiding/id1689931283?i=1000720943277
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/0sBUGYM7YLATaHjYawp5yq?si=b0a843ca0b4a4408
or via the website at https://theworldawaits.au

As podcast host of The World Awaits travel podcast and an Egypt aficionado, I’m the guest this episode, rounding up the best of new things to do in Cairo.

I share my top three things to do in Cairo, including the best Egyptian museums and neighbourhoods, essential experiences and answers the age-old question, is Cairo safe right now? For more of my travels, including some pretty great footage (if I do say so myself) see https://www.instagram.com/global_salsa

And we have a winner of our tropical Thai holiday giveaway of four nights at Avani+ Khao Lak! Thanks to Avani Hotels & Resorts, who generously offered this prize to our listeners to celebrate our 100th episode!

And finally, our tip this week is how to avoid the rainiest places in the world (unless you love a downpour!), and we cover off the craziest things people have left in Ubers.

Jun

Strauss has Vienna in a spin, again; 200 years of the waltz in Vienna Austria: Australian Financial Review

Erotic, rebellious, scandalous. A dance to induce ecstasy, an exuberant resistance to state oppression. Yes, it’s that saucy dance with the devil, the waltz.

A staple in today’s reality TV dance competitions, the waltz was a simple peasant dance until the cosmopolitan Viennese gave it an urbane makeover in the early 1800s. Women fainted, welded-together couples scandalised – the ‘wicked’ waltz of Vienna’s 1800s was a fast and furious dance.

This year, Vienna celebrates 200 years since the birth of its ‘Waltz King’, Johann Strauss II, best known for Vienna’s unofficial anthem, The Blue Danube.

I spent a few weeks exploring Vienna, the grandest little European city, which is once again in Strauss’ grip, and wrote about it for the Australian Financial Review newspaper. To read my story in the Australian Financial Review, visit https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/travel/how-the-dance-of-the-devil-s-violinist-came-to-define-this-city-20250417-p5lsny or see AFR Austria, Strauss

For a quick recap: Strauss was born and died in Vienna, and this year the city celebrates his bicentenary. Even if you weren’t a mad classical music fan, his life story is so full of drama (fought with his jealous dad, jealous brother burnt his original manuscripts, wives with seven children of dubious parentage, rewrite of his history by Nazi Party etc) and the digital exhibitions so good, you’ll be hooked on waltz as a political statement against authoritarianism. There are several new galleries and exhibitions in Vienna, including the interactive New Dimension exhibition, I also visited the nearly new House of Strauss, took in a dinner & rather cheesy, but fun show at the Prater. There are 65 productions and 3 exhibitions at 71 different locations throughout the city in 2025. https://www.johannstrauss2025.at/en/

For more Strauss events, visit-
Johann Strauss Museum – New Dimensions: The shiny new permanent city centre exhibition, which opened last November, is a fascinating multimedia deep dive into Strauss’s private life and loves. He once wrote 150 love letters to Olga, who he dumped after his mother disapproved. He had three wives, Jetty, Lily and Adele, and no children. Brothers Josef and Eduard were involved in the business but in a tragic twist Eduard burnt hundreds of Strauss manuscripts. Don GPS-enabled audio headphones and compose your own waltz with technology https://www.johannstraussmuseum.at

The House of Strauss – a museum and also a concert space, where the Strauss family used to perform. The museum tour is narrated by Thomas Strauss, the great-great-great-grandson of Johann Strauss II; https://www.houseofstrauss.at

Johann Strauss Exhibition: This vibrant exhibition which opened in December at the Theatermuseum Vienna showcases the glamour of the Strauss era. Original objects from performances are on display and include the score from Die Fledermaus. Until June 23. theatermuseum.at

Wien Museum: Reopened in 2023, it has a chronological tour of the city including Strauss connections, free. wienmuseum.at

Mar

The best things to do in Sofia, Bulgaria

For streets paved with gold, what to eat and 7000 years of history, I give you my list of the best things to do in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Crossing the border from Greece, I exchange my euros for a fistful of Bulgarian lev, which I’ll spend gleefully on banitsa, a flaky breakfast pastry that in its simplest form is filo stuffed with eggs, feta and yoghurt. You might have tried bougatsa, the custard-filled Greek pastry born in Thessaloniki – it’s just one of many demonstrations that these two countries share an ancient past, evolving to add their own twist. Isn’t it funny that when we think of Greece, we think of western Europe and all its familiarity, but just cross the border and eastern Europe is a whole different approach for travellers. Is it safe? Is it poor? Is it interesting?

Take a look at my latest feature for the Traveller section of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers to see if I’ve answered all these questions. I can recommend a great little art hotel in the embassy district to make your base, thoroughly recommend Bulgaria’s potent distilled fruit spirit, rakia, centuries-old churches and mosques, hundred-year-old markets and maybe you’ll also fall in love with the jaunty yellow trams that cross Sofia. The last time I visited Bulgaria, it was still shadowed by its Soviet past, so it’s fascinating to see how it tells its Communist story, from 1944 to 1989, to a new generation of travellers – see redflatsofia.com

And for disclosure, I travelled to Bulgaria by train from Greece as a guest of Eurail. From Athens, I travelled north to Greece’s second city, Thessaloniki, and then across the border to Sofia and onward to Plovdiv, using the European rail pass, Eurail. See eurail.com

https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/nine-must-do-highlights-of-sofia-bulgaria-20250214-p5lc49.html

And for a deep dive into Bulgaria’s food scene, you can read my piece written for Adventure.com , see https://adventure.com/off-the-eaten-path-slow-food-bulgaria/

And if you’re heading to Thessaloniki, I’ve written a ‘best of’ for that awesome city, as well – see https://globalsalsa.com/best-things-to-do-in-thessaloniki-greece/

Jan

Shuwa & chai: the best food in Oman

It’s sunset, and I’m in a taxi, getting a masterclass in how to order tea in Oman.

“You don’t even get out of your car to order karak chai,” says Ali, my taxi driver, wiggling two fingers.

Ali’s lesson occurs on a break on our 150-kilometre journey from the mountains to the sea, from the old capital to the new, from Nizwa to Muscat.

A runner emerges from the shop, sees two fingers for two karak, and disappears back inside, to reappear with two tiny takeaway cups.

Redolent of cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and saffron, the tea is short and sweet – the perfect fuel for the taxi driver and the traveller. After Ali pays – because I am a guest first, and a customer second – we pull back onto the smooth, mountain-lined highway, hot tea carefully balanced in hand, for the descent to the turquoise sea.

One of my great trips of 2024 was a solo trip back to Oman, the Switzerland of the Middle East. Wealthy, calm, no high-rises, welcoming to all travellers. I’m afraid word is out about the reputation of this lovely little country on the eastern edge of the Arabia Peninsula – afraid because I kind of want it all to myself. Muscat has welcomed a brace of new hotels, and the glamping scene in the deserts are a feature on instagrammers’ feeds, but it hasn’t rolled over to change to suit travellers’ needs. That’s what I love about it. You go to Oman, you know you’re in Oman, not a generic version of a Middle Eastern country. It is genuinely warm and welcoming – saying this as a woman travelling alone in the country, and that doesn’t need to change.

I think that while there’s so much turmoil and tragedy in other parts of the region – the escalation of the Palestinian invasion, conflict in Lebanon and now in Iran – so many people are wary of visiting any country in the Middle East. But when there’s a problem in France, do we stop visiting Greece?

In Oman, I stayed at Anantara Jebel al Akhdar, at the Shangri-La Al-Husn (which is the adults-only hotel within this group, on the outskirts of Muscat and in Nizwa. The Anantara and Shangri-La stays were both hosted.

To read my full story written for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s Traveller section, click here:
https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/peaceful-middle-eastern-country-is-underrated-and-understated-like-its-food-20241111-p5kpi7.html

May

Travelling in Oman: chat with 2GB Sydney radio

I’m recently back from travelling in Oman, the quietest little country in the Middle East. So quiet, you may never have thought of it, or thought to visit.

You’re missing out.

Today, I chatted with radio 2GB Sydney host Michael McLaren about Oman. About walking through the narrow streets of a mudbrick town, where you’ll pass men in the classic Omani dishdasha, a long, white robe topped with a kumar, an embroidered cap worn nowhere else but Oman. It is unmistakably different. It is unmistakably Omani.

Travelling in Oman is easy, safe and the people are welcoming – and this is the most fragrant country, the land of frankincense, myrrh, of cardamon-scented coffee and pure rosewater, which I watched distilled in the hill towns of Al Jabal Al Akhdar.

To listen to my chat with Michael McLaren, click here.

Otherwise, you can tune into my podcast, The World Awaits, where I caught up with co-host Kirstie Bedford on my return, to talk about travelling from Muscat to Nizwa to the mountains and the fjords of the Musandam peninsula as well as the deserts – the lovely, lonely, great sand deserts of Arabia.

2GB interview https://omny.fm/shows/2gb-afternoons/travel-oman

The World Awaits podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/4yGJB2Gu4axrPJJhWgDlhw

May

Hotels reborn: 10 historic buildings that are now luxury hotels

Where are you sleeping tonight? In a prison cell? A castle? A monastery. A jam factory? I’m talking about rooms inside buildings that have been reborn as hotels – buildings that may otherwise have fallen into irretrievable disrepair, or worse.

Traveller cover photo The Interlude @ Pentridge Prison

This weekend, my cover story in the Traveller section of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers is about hotels whose buildings have served a previous life – I rounded up 10 across Australia and abroad, with an extra serve of five Australasian hotels on the side. I looked at hotels as far apart as London, Peru and Turkey, which have been train stations, palaces, even a state Department of Education. Some, like the Las Casas de la Juderia, in Seville and London’s St Pancras Renaissance, were from recent travels. Some, like The Interlude here in Melbourne’s Pentridge Prison complex, are only just about to open. All are close to my heart.

Sometimes, it’s the location or the beauty of a building that lures developers to imbue it with renewed life. Other times, it’s the building’s backstory that a visionary can weave into its incarnation, to be reborn with new purpose.

“Heritage is the art of saving what is useful and beautiful, but also updating it for modern use,” says Terry Fripp, of Kerry Hill Architects, whose projects include Perth’s much-lauded COMO The Treasury, formerly Western Australia’s historic State Buildings.

It’s the ultimate act of recycling: reusing existing resources while also giving back, in the form of hotel restaurants, bars, spas and event spaces that are, for the most part, accessible by the public.

Click here to read my story on the 10 great hotels reborn, with another serve of five Australasian hotels on the side.

or see https://www.theage.com.au/traveller/inspiration/10-historic-buildings-reborn-as-stunning-luxury-hotels-20230512-p5d7vp.html

May

Six of the best historic hotels in Egypt

Fancy splashing out on a luxury hotel for your Egyptian holiday? I’ve been to a few in my time, and let me say that this fabulous country is interwoven with blockbuster stories, best tapped into with a stay in one of its great historic hotels.

Who’s your historical hero? Ramses II? Agatha Christie? Alexander the Great or maybe Winston Churchill?

I’ve rounded up six of the best historic hotels in Egypt, from up in the north in Alexandria to the deep south, in the heart of Nubia, in Aswan. I’ve headed out into the Sahara to the impossibly exotic oasis town of Siwa, where a mudbrick marvel awaits, and onto the shores of the Nile in Luxor with these six stays.

Click here to read the story, which I wrote for the Traveller section of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers.

https://www.theage.com.au/traveller/inspiration/six-of-the-best-historic-hotels-in-egypt-20230424-p5d2uw.html

Feb

A traveller’s guide for new architecture openings in 2023

What does architecture need to get onto your travel wishlist? To be a record-breaker? To be cleverly reused and recycled? To be innovative and sustainable?

All these conversations are happening in Copenhagen this year, as the 2023 World Capital of Architecture. The triennial event includes Open House opening buildings normally closed to the public, a run through the city with architects from around the world, and a world congress on the UN Sustainable Futures theme, “Leave No One Behind”.

If you’re staying at home, the newly opened Sydney Modern by Japanese firm SANAA is ripe for exploration, while in Melbourne, the National Gallery of Victoria’s 2022 architecture commission, Temple of Boom – a re-imagining of the Parthenon by Melbourne practice NWMN, is open until October. See copenhagenincommon.kk.dk, artgallerynsw.gov.au, ngv.vic.gov.au

Recently, I rounded up eight great new architectural openings for the Traveller section of the Sydney Morning Herald/The Age newspapers. It’s a mix of architectural stand-outs coming up in 2023, from super-tall skyscrapers to re-imagined historic sites and quiet, thoughtful conversation starters.

It’s always a tricky one to write – skyscrapers can be delayed (Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur is a year or two behind schedule), museums unopened (we’ve been promised the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo for about eight years now). But 2023 is the year. It’s all opening in a flush of post-COVID exuberance.

Click here to read my story, and let me know what you’re looking at in 2023?

Aug

Women in Saudi Arabia

Until late 2019, I could not visit Saudi Arabia as a solo, female traveller. Only business visa holders and religious pilgrims could visit Saudi Arabia, and even then, as a woman, I would have needed to be accompanied by a male guardian. Living in Egypt in the late noughties, my father had passed away, I was unmarried and neither of my brothers wanted to visit Saudi Arabia. It remained one of a few countries I had not visited in the Middle East, yet with an all-pervasive influence in the region’s economy, politics and societal expectations, there was a Saudi-sized gap in my understanding of the region.

Then, just before COVID closed the world down, Saudi Arabia threw out its own rule book, and brought in e-visas for independent travellers, issued online and almost on the spot.

I am so proud of this story, published in the Traveller section of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age (Melbourne) newspapers, about my adventures in the Saudi city of Jeddah and the AlUla oasis, up toward the Jordanian border. To read more about travelling as a woman, and meeting the women of Saudi Arabia, click on the link below.

https://www.traveller.com.au/visiting-saudia-arabia-as-a-woman-i-went-to-the-notoriously-sexist-country-as-a-solo-female-tourist-h24v9q

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Jun

Walk into Jordan’s colourful, poetic heart on the Jordan Trail

With its Crusader castles and Roman ruins, the Dead Sea and the rose-colored jewel of Petra, the Jordan Trail leads walkers into its poetic, colorful heart.

Long-distance walking holidays are a worldwide phenomenon, not just in the US with its vast trails, or the routes that criss-cross the United Kingdom, or here in Australia, which has seen a boom in waymarked trails. In the peaceable Middle Eastern country of Jordan, the 400 mile Jordan Trail winds through wadis (valleys) and ridges and into Jordanian life, visiting 75 towns and villages along the way, from Umm Qais in the north to the Red Sea town of Aqaba in the south.

Travelers have always found refuge and wellness here – be they spice traders on the ancient trade route, pilgrims journeying south to Mecca, Roman lovers of luxury or today’s hikers on the Jordan Trail.

Click here to read my latest story and to soak your imagination in the fabulous photography in the current edition of Arrived magazine.

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With its Crusader castles and Roman ruins, the Dead Sea and the rose-colored jewel of Petra, the Jordan Trail leads walkers into its poetic, colorful heart.