Alain de Botton in The Art of Travel (Penguin, 2003) has a chapter on mind-altering art. He uses the example of Vincent van Gogh’s time in Provence to show how great art can help us come to see things differently. Continue reading
travel
The Mezquita Mosque Cathedral, Córdoba, Spain
10 euro – adults,
10.00am to 7.00pm
What’s in a name? This building has been variously called mosque, cathedral, the great mosque of Córdoba, and the Catholic Cathedral of our Lady of the Assumption. Google ‘mezquita cathedral name’ and you’ll find recent news reports on local authorities’ attempts to remove the ‘mosque’ from the title of the building and have it become the Córdoba Cathedral. Continue reading
The Hammam, Essaouira
A thin Muslim man, grey hair under a white skull cap, blue jacket and a pair of leather sandals. He picks up his half-smoked cigarette from the nook where he placed it a few moments ago, before coming into the hotel to pick me up. A quick puff and it’s alight again. Call him Ahmed. Continue reading
Orson Welles’ lament, Essaouira, Morocco
Exotica (2) Maison de la Photographie, Marrakesh
Arévalo, Portrait of Hamidou, Tanger, 1885
46, Rue Souk Ahal Fassi, kaat Ben Nahi
9.30 to 7pm, 7 days, 40 MD
After hours of lefts and rights through the Marrakesh medina and hugging the wall to allow scooters to hurtle past being driven by elegant Moroccan women in mirrored aviator sunglasses listening to Beyoncé on their iPhones, we took a turn up the rue Ahal Fassi to the Maison de la Photographie. Continue reading
Exotica (1): Jardin Majorelle and Berber Museum, Marrakesh.
Rue Yves Saint Laurent
8pm to 6pm summer, 5.30pm winter; the museum closes earlier.
Gardens only 70DH; gardens + Berber Museum 100 DH.
Step through a door. Continue reading
Time (Boutaghrar, Valley of the Roses)
A small white camel drawn in a child’s hand at the top of a low arch on an adobe wall. Continue reading
Ode on an apple fritter (Erg Chebbi Dunes near Merzouga 31.08°N, 4.013° W)
O twice cooked pastry (pale brown), how camest thou,
by ochre dunes and gravel plains, hurried o’er roads Continue reading
Time: Yasmine’s heart (33.873°N, 5.540°W)
[this looks better on my site]
…is strong, so you must be strong to love her.
Many have tried but none lie as deep, as straight Continue reading
Dar Jamai Museum, Meknes, Morocco
(Place el-Hedim, admission 10Dh, Hours 10.00am to 6.00pm)
Despite the Lonely Planet describing Meknes, Morocco’s fourth imperial city as ‘quieter and smaller’ than Fes or Marrakesh, it is still a busy city of nearly one million people. Continue reading
Peter Frankis writes 