Along the Crescent

Sahel's Pearl

30/04/2020 10:24
Farhat Hached square distributes a little bit the city human traffic. Send some to the station where they took trains to the nearby Monastir or farther and away, towards Tunisia. Others expect traffic lights change to speed towards the northern beaches or Port el Kantauri and yet there are those...

The Porte

29/09/2017 10:05
From Café Loti’s terrace, on the last of Istanbul’s seven hills, view shows as Golden Horn splits new town and the old Seraglio and the memories of past empires. Beyond, Asia is sensed. Bridges stand between both shores with its frenetic traffic and numerous minarets project to the skies calling...

The Valley of the Kings

14/10/2016 17:40
The ancient Egyptians called Ta-sekhet-ma'at, the Great Field, to the valley the sun burns under Meretseger, the Hill which loves the silence. The silence that for centuries has accompanied hundreds of outstanding graves excavated in the rock, hidden beneath the sands of the Valley of the...

The Medina of Tunis

26/02/2016 09:23
Its narrow alleys combined with mosques courtyards’ breadth and madrasas, their Ottoman minarets and ancient souks earned in 1979 to the medina of Tunis joining the Heritage of UNESCO. Tynes was once an insignificant place which not even would deserve to be called a village. Here the Roman general...

Turkish Miniatures

16/07/2015 10:59
Five fishermen dressed in multicoloured robes and turbans gather their fishnets near the shore. It must be spring. Beside cypresses grow violets, daisies and lilies. Fishing has been abundant and soon seagulls will appear trying to catch their share of the booty. On a similar vegetation, next to a...

Babylon, the Gate of the Gods

27/11/2014 16:42
When the lofty Anu, King of the Anunnaki, and Bel, lord of heaven and earth, he who determines the destiny of the land, committed the rule of all mankind to Marduk, the chief son of Ea; when they made him great among the Igigi; when they pronounced the lofty name of Babylon; when they made it...

Memphis Graveyard

07/07/2014 10:30
Memphis, one of the greatest cities of the ancient world on the Nile shores, built in the western bank, which corresponds to the world of the dead, an outstanding necropolis. Its famous pyramids are the only of antiquity wonders still standing. The Greeks adapted the name of a mausoleum, that of...

Faris' Misbaha

30/12/2013 19:37
Shorty and stocky, with a faultless white shirt and always with a smile ready, Faris drove his black sedan, a private taxi, through the streets of Baghdad  along with his two companions, a perfect replica of the Tintin twin policemen, Thompson and Thomson. Sometimes stopped the car to allow us...

The Inner Sea

04/10/2013 10:41
From the perspective that provides a satellite point of view Tunisia is a country split in two. Descending to bird's eye view Tunisia inside fracture seems a kind of lake or inland sea. The approach to land turns it in the huge reflection of a salt desert. Chott el Djerid, Chott el Garsa and Chott...

Büyükada

22/04/2013 12:27
Children laughs flood the deck at the stern side of the ferry. Others, teenagers, are feeding gulls throwing bread crumbs to the air. Seagulls skilfully trap it. Devoid of enthusiasm a waiter walks the aisle between the seats, carrying a hot teapot and a huge tray of sugary donuts. Other passengers...

Jordan Shores

04/03/2013 16:50
Jordan is a Bedouin chimera. A colonial ruling pen product. A Dead Sea riverside, a desert looking Arabia and a stony plane pointing to Mesopotamia. - Wahad Arak , Mr.? - Minfadlak, Hassan. Shukran jazilan! It was the third one. I appreciate that kind of aniseed Ouzo, taken as an...

On the Banks of the Nile

11/02/2013 18:23
I may imagine Naguib Mafuz sitting in a table at Fishawa Café. Holds a cigarette between his fingers. Leafing through his notes. A little bit further, to the right, his cup of coffee. Occasionally lifts his head and looks carefully at his thoughts perhaps searching a particular recall. A waiter,...

Egypt The Megalomaniac Pharaoh

27/12/2012 18:35
Usermaatra Setepenra, the chosen of Ra, born to be a god, otherwise, he was deeply convinced. Son of Seti I and Queen Tuya was the third Pharaoh of the nineteenth dynasty. Rule Egypt for nearly seven decades between 1279 and 1213 BC with the name of Ramses II or Ramses Meriamon. Under his reign...

Tunis The Fatimid Masters

13/12/2012 17:39
Qairuán has an affordable medina. Not too big and remarkably relaxed. Carpets hang on the whitewashed walls and marquetry decorates windows under a clear blue sky. Traders sit patiently in the shade, on the streets, waiting for a customer in front of their business. Near Bab Tunis, Tunisia Door, at...

Algeria About Gazelles and Camels

23/11/2012 09:46
Benabderramane Mahdi is tall. Very tall. He’s also very thin. And if we add a four feet long chèche, the turban kind used by touaregs, he is even taller. In his stays in Barcelona, sometimes he wandered through Gracia neighbourhood streets, looking for the same sort of tea he and his friends used...
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Marrakech, Morocco