Tag: blogging
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Book of the Month
So here is an exciting new feature-well a feature at least. Drop by Strabo’s Bookshelf on my home page for more travel orientated book recommendations Red Nile A Biography Of The Worlds Greatest River by Robert Twigger I had not heard of Robert Twigger until a serendipitous moment when his book Red Nile fell off…
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Alexandria, The End of The Affair
It’s an optimistic morning as I stroll along Rue Nebi Daniel, heading Downtown from the station just as the city is waking. Egyptian cities tend to emerge slowly from slumber; nights are often long, and mornings are reluctant. I think of Mahfouz as I walk; he would have taken a taxi or carriage. He wouldn’t…
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Ripples on the Nile
I wasn’t following in the footsteps of Herodotus, at least, not on purpose, but somehow our paths did keep crossing, it was getting awkward. You know how it is when you have been stalking someone and then, suddenly, you come face to face with them. It’s been about two and half thousand years since the…
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Was buying a house in Syria the brightest decision I ever made
Was buying a house in Syria the brightest decision I have ever made-obviously the answer to that question will not surprise anyone. I do get quite a few questions on this particular chapter of my life, so without this turning into a guide to buying property in the Syrian Arab Republic I will just mention…
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In Search of a Smile
I was in the partial state of not knowing if I was awake or still dreaming; it had been another fitful uncomfortable night, mostly involving a donkey braying and the snores and snorting of Ibrahim, or, to be fair, that could also have been the donkey, either way, I was now fully aware that someone…
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At a Loss in the Land of Nimrod
The prostitute fidgeted uncomfortably beside me, her knee brushing mine, a glass of tea, and a cigarette in the same hand. The sound of the police radio a constant crackle of an unintelligible code, the chaotic room bathed in neon blue as another squad car passed the tiny window. I took another deep breath and…
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The Killing Fields
Stepping out of the minibus I staggered trying to stamp my feet on the side of the road, exhaust fumes and dust swirled as the bus left me, the four or was it five hours scrunched up at the back had cut the blood supply to my legs and now I was stumbling like an…
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The Turtle
A loggerhead turtle scampers frantically towards the sea, her cumbersome shell not designed for beach sprinting, the dawn light now illuminating the protective cove but it’s not only the light that has stirred her into such inelegant action so much as the camera-phone wielding tourists in hot pursuit; coming out at night to lay her…
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Siwa, City of Sand
Maher shuffled his way into the coffee-shop sneezing, coughing and complaining, his flip-flops hardly lifting from the dusty floor as he moved, I’m sick he announced to the waiter who didn’t look away from the TV, he sneezed again to prove his point. In Egypt the cure for the common cold is Helba a herbal…
John Wreford Photographer 