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Tag Archives: Middle East
Confessions of a graphomaniac.
Doctor, dear doctor, help me for I’m a graphomaniac. Yes doctor, I love paper. I adore the smell of the thing, the muffled noise of a pencil running on a smooth sheet. In a nutshell, doctor, I love writing. I … Continue reading
Posted in Odd ones out, Random memories
Tagged Asia, Beirut, Central Asia, Drawing, Graphomania, Graphomaniac, Italia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mapping, Maps, Memories, Middle East, Mitsubishi, Moleskine, Norris, Note, Pamir, Pen, Sri Lanka, Staedler, Travel, Travel literature, Travelling, Writing
26 Comments
Beirut people watching.
Humanity is the best spectacle, in this city where gated communities rub shoulders with bombed-out, charred shells. Pneumatically-enhanced bimbos and babes driving Dodge Camaros on one end of the spectrum and ragged Syrian children tapping on their rolled-up windows for … Continue reading
Posted in Lebanon, Middle East
Tagged Art, Beirut, Corniche, Hamra, History, Mediterranean, Middle East, People, People watching, Phoenicia, Phoenicians, Sea, Street, Syria
12 Comments
You Were Filthy But Fine.
“You were filthy but fine” sang James Murphy in that LCD Soundsystem jewel that is New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down and I, for once, think that it could very well fit to Beirut. Spotless, it certainly … Continue reading
Posted in Lebanon, Middle East
Tagged Antiques, Arabic, Armenia, Armenia street, Art, Cedar, Dust, God, Graffiti, Lebanese Civil War, Lebanon, Middle East, Murales, Photographer, Protests, Stencil, Street, Street art, Writing, You Stink
12 Comments
Remembrance for scatterbrains.
Landing takes place at night. We descend into the warm Mediterranean air, those of us sat on the left-hand side being treated to a royal view of the entire city of Beirut lying, invitingly, beneath us. Here is Ras Beirut, … Continue reading
Posted in Lebanon, Middle East
Tagged Alawite, Architecture, Asia, Beirut, Beit Beirut, Christianity, Civil War, Demarcation Line, Druze, Green Line, Hamas, Hezbollah, Holiday Inn Beirut, Iftar, Iran, Lebanese Civil War, Marina, Maronite, Martyrs' Monument, Middle East, Nightlife, People, Photography, Ramadan, Religion, Skyscrapers, Street photography, Taif, Travel, Urban photography, War
18 Comments
Approaching Beirut.
Beirut, Paris of the East. Beirut, mother of laws. Beirut, the city that can be Rio, Miami and 1943 Stalingrad all within the same block. Beirut, the filthy. Beirut, the ironic (another French legacy I suspect). Beirut, you’ve got the … Continue reading
Posted in Lebanon, Middle East
Tagged Beirut, Cedars, Civil War, France, Graffiti, Holiday Inn Beirut, Lebanon, Mediterranean, Middle East, Phoenicia, Rubbish, Sunset
17 Comments
“I have never encountered splendour of this kind before”. Visiting Isfahan with Robert Byron
On paper it sounded like a good idea: visiting a country whilst reading about it, journeying through the physical space and the mental one concocted by a great travel writer, attempting to match my experiences to those of the author. … Continue reading
Weren’t all they supposed to be madmen?
Lunatics. Zealots. Religious fanatics. These were a few of the attributes that friends and acquaintances slapped on the people of Iran whenever the topic came up. Unrequested opinions were offered, together with garbled memories of articles penned down by the … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Iran
Tagged Asia, Christianity, Farsi, Fox news, Hezbollah, Iran, Isfahan, Islam, Middle East, People, Street, Street photography, Terrorism, Travel
15 Comments
An afternoon south of the river: finding Armenians in Iran and how civilization begun.
“…a wicked regime where anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial is official ideology, and with […] killing of women just because they’re women” – Sarah Palin The south bank of the dried Zāyanderūd river is Armenian at heart. This piece of Iran, long … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Iran
Tagged Armenia, Assyrian, Christianity, Church, Clay, Cob, Farsi, Iran, Isfahan, Islam, Mesopotamia, Middle East, Mosques, Mud, Mud wall, Sumeric, Sun baked bricks, Ur, Vank
3 Comments
A taste of things to come
Ah, teasers, don’t we all love them? Despite Turkish Airlines’ best efforts I’ve arrived home from a visit to the most photogenic place I’ve been to recently – Isfahan in Iran. I’ve filled half of my notepad with scribbles which I’ll … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Iran
Tagged Asia, Dome, Esfahan, Iran, Isfahan, Lotfollah Mosque, Lutfullah Mosque, Middle East, Tiles
6 Comments
“Arabian Sands”, by Wilfred Thesiger, Penguin Books.
Italo Calvino once wrote that a ‘classic’ is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. If this is the approved meter of judgement for the category, then I’ve no doubts that Arabian Sands belongs to … Continue reading
Posted in Books review, Uncategorized
Tagged Africa, Arabia, Arabian Sands, Bedouin, Bedu, History, Middle East, Penguin books, Travel literature, Travelling, Travelogue, Wilfred Thesiger
8 Comments
