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…
For some it’s Easter egg hunts, for others meditations on torture and resurrection, others still a time to be ‘seen’ showing their penitence in hooded processions…for me it means that the simple fact of walking to my house becomes an ordeal. Crowds clog the tiny arteries of the old town here in Caceres, while supposedly…
Ibn Battutah is known for traveling around most of the known world back in the 14th century, but perhaps the least well known part of his travels was his sojourn here in Spain. Even still, in his Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling, he paints one of…
Over the Christmas break we went off again, searching for more of Ibn Battutah’s tracks…this time from Morocco to Spain. The trip ended, like Battutah’s in that lovely city at the feet of the Sierra Nevada, Granada. Of the few cities that live up to their hype and more. Even without the Alhambra sitting on…
I’ve chased Ibn Battutah’s ghost through Yemen, Syria, Turkey, Libya, Spain and even Cambodia. Each country has provided fleeting glimpses of the medieval wanderer, from his lions in Aleppo to castles in Fuengirola. Have a read about a recent pilgrimage to this traveler’s tomb in Tangier in the Sydney Morning Herald.
I do have to say that the Irish are some of my favourite people in the world. Whether it be in New Jersey, Baku, Vientiane or even Cork, they always seem to cheer things up. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to the greenest of places, but an Irish newspaper, The Irish World, has just…
Every traveler has been there…jet-lagged and coming out of an airport or getting off an all-night train where the only wink you got was from the fellow across the aisle with the extremely dirty fingernails, stepping into a new country with no language or local currency and suddenly the mass descends on you. If not…
The good people over at Trazzler have given me even more reason to practice what I preach and travel deeper rather than further. I’ve been assigned a 10 piece series, exploring my adopted homeland of Extremadura, Spain and her sister region across the now non-existent border with Portugal. First stop Alcantara! Second Caceres Moving on…
Travel, as far and wide as you can. But tread lightly. Writing in Verge Travel.
I usually get various reactions from editors when I send them submissions about traveling in Iran. They usually range from complete silence to cheeky replies regarding the sanity of those who travel in such places. So it was with great surprise that I got an email the other day from Trazzler asking me to write…