Following Ibn Battutah in Spain

Ibn Battutah is known for traveling around most of the known world back in the 14th century, but perhaps the least well known part of his travels was his sojourn here in Spain. Even still, in his Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling, he paints one of the most complete account we have of the world at the time.

After returning to Morocco from far off China, he quickly got itchy feet and crossed over to Europe with the idea of joining the Jihad against the Christian reconquest. Things weren't going that well for the Muslim armies on the peninsula and this might explain his unusual brevity in describing this part of the trip, but even still anecdotes abound.

The good people over at Trazzler have commissioned me to follow his tracks here in Spain in another 10 part series of trips.

-First stop, his beginning in Tangier
-Second, the assault on Europe starts from Ceuta
-Third, back on the European continent once again in Gibraltar
-Fourth, take a break from the concrete coasts in Ronda
-Fifth, it's actually much nicer than you think in Marbella
-Sixth, hiding out from pirates in Fuengirola
-Seventh, sweet..sweet wine in Malaga
-Eighth, heading to Granada the old fashioned way in Velez Malaga
-Ninth, trust a retired supreme court judge to block your visit to the hot springs in Alhama de Granada, almost that is.
-Tenth, last stop a night in the Corral del Carbon in Granada

Notebook: Gondar, Ethopia

Movie set art-deco buildings crumble under an equatorial sun. Here colors break rules at their fancy...yellow and purple get on well when splashed across a mud brick wall while an envious lime green neighbor looks on. Vegetation creeps at these high altitudes, the advancing green takes its time, nothing's in a rush over 2500 meters. Not the full out onslaught of a tropical rainforest, but more a steady walk fed by intermittent rains brought by unreliable monsoons.

Gondar Ethiopia - it sounds like a long way away.

...explore this colorful city, but first a cup of coffee in its native land under flaming Poinciana trees with a perched Raptor as company. These birds of prey patrol urban skies here, their piercing shrieks adding to the complex soundscape of the city before swooping down between traffic to pick up road scraps left behind, barely avoiding becoming scraps themselves in the process.

But before anything, the coffee...grown here, just roasted and mashed, no need for more. A ceremony to rival any other and well worth the wait.

It's early enough for the cattle to still be feeding at troughs in front of houses, but the morning sun is already hot. Boys run by with homemade kites made from plastic bags and sticks while others play football with balls make of some sort of foam tied in rags. Masters of recycling and reusing, even bottle caps get used in the making of the few paved roads that run through the city.

It isn't too early for them either, they've been up since dawn.

The air is hung with the smoke of breakfast fires and the sun glares off of everything. The pounding of mortar meeting pestle comes from the secret worlds behind every fence, more 'injera' being made.

A procession of white and the sound of singing climbs up the hill. A funeral procession wrapped in gauze. The mourners are swathed in the regal white of Ethiopia. Simple cotton cloth bordered with bright colours cover both men and women making the affair less solemn. Amharic sounds like singing when spoken, making the singing sound ethereal, far from a funeral dirge. Up here on the hill it could be mistaken as a celebration.

Gondar Ethiopia, it still sounds far, far away.

Spring's Here, or At Least the Storks Are...

This winter has been rotten, plain rotten. Rain can be a godsend in countries susceptible to drought like Spain, but enough already!

Though Spring certainly doesn't seem to be springing with any kind of force, let's hope that the storks bring some good weather with them.

Brave in Granada

Over the Christmas break we went off again, searching for more of Ibn Battutah's tracks...this time from Morocco to Spain. The trip ended, like Battutah's in that lovely city at the feet of the Sierra Nevada, Granada.

Of the few cities that live up to their hype and more.

Even without the Alhambra sitting on top, the place would be worth a week.

There's a new player in town, a mosque within shouting distance from the most popular mirador overlooking the Red Fort.

Click over to Brave New Traveler for a deeper look.

2.0 in Tangier

I've chased Ibn Battutah's ghost through Yemen, Syria, Turkey, Libya, Spain and even Cambodia. Each country has provided fleeting glimpses of the medieval wanderer, from his lions in Aleppo to castles in Fuengirola.

Have a read about a recent pilgrimage to this traveler's tomb in Tangier in the Sydney Morning Herald.