Villas Fawakay
Doris the pregnant donkey wanders past, going home to her corral, the peacocks, Frank and Stein, sleep on the thatch roof of the bar, the two long little dogs, Woof […]
NOTEBOOK
Canter past Patagonian icefields. Sail the tranquil waters of Lake Como in Italy. Sip coffee in a Palestinian village. Listen to the ancient voices of Australia’s Arnhem Land. Climb the mountain paths of northern Albania. Let’s go!
Rabat and the spirit of Ramadan
It is raining. It is SO raining. Rabat and Rain. Rabat is an hour by train from Casablanca, and I’m sure it’s a nice town. Pretty. Whitewash buildings echoing the […]
Of all the gin joints in all the world…
This being Casablanca and all, my Casa-based friend Jody and I wandered into Rick’s Café, modeled on the gin palace that appeared in the Humphrey Bogart-Lauren Bacall Hollywood movie, Casablanca. […]
Cruising Casablanca
It bodes ill for my bank balance that the first photograph I take in Morocco is of a necklace. Massive rough chunks of amber strung carelessly on a piece of […]
Midnight feast
The other night, I had a knock at my door. It was the daughter of the mesaharati, a man in the neighbourhood who walks through the streets banging a drum […]
Notes from Ramadan
It’s 2.30am and I can hear the blender start up. It happens every night, I could just about set my clock to it when my neighbour starts clinking pots and […]
Feasting, fasting and fighting
The fasting always gets to the market boys after 3pm. The hours before fitar (known as breakfast even though it occurs around 6.30pm – it’s literally, ‘breaking the fast’) are […]
Sweet tooth
Hi all – a lighter blog back home in Cairo after the last, fairly grim one I’ll admit, which was a radio script of a piece for Ireland’s national broadcaster, […]
Kenyan drought sees tribes go walkabout
The four Maasi tribeswomen are keen to talk. Sitting on the bare ground as red dust swirls around us, they tell how the drought across the East African country of […]
Farewell to coconuts and mangos
Mombasssssa, Mombasa, baby. Where coconuts wash up on the shore and there are three different kinds of arrowroot on the breakfast buffet. The very name of this city conjures up […]