The Crusaders might have had a more difficult time getting here and the bus is surely faster than Freya Starke‘s donkey, but the windy trip into the ancient realm of the mythical Hashshashin is still a modern day adventure. Deep in the Alborz mountains an 11th-century sect hounded the invading Crusaders with fierce warriors stoned out of…
Writing in the local paper. Local issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs. It happened while we were overlooking one of the world’s unofficial wonders, sitting under a desperately thirsty acacia tree, swatting away flies and scratching at fleas. A temple…
I took a walk awhile ago with my Couchsurfing host, now friend, Oya. We started in the Istanbul of the guidebooks and ended up in the Istanbul of her childhood. A walk that took us from the tank tops of Eminonou to the hiijabs and niquabs in Fatih, with a short detour to see the…
Wild Boar with Greens 2009 has been a year of Deep Travel, delving further into places rather than just skipping on to the next. With this in mind, a Saturday road trip turned into a visit to another country. Granted Portugal is just over 100kms from here, I don’t seem to visit the country that…