The Inimitable Alhambra

ENTERING the Alhambra is like stepping into an enchanting tale of Arabian Nights. This exquisite Moorish castle is so captivating that all the hyperbole that you assiduously shun over the years creeps insidiously back into your vocabulary as you attempt a description. Alhambra is the stuff of fairy tales, a glittering jewel in the otherwise barren Andalusian plains....Read More

Gibralter; Marrakech, Casablanca, Fes - Morocco, July 2006

THE Rock of Gibralter wore a shroud of midday haze. From my perch on the foredeck of the Comarit ferry, I could just about spot phantom white columns shimmering at a distance. As the ship did a complete U-turn and cruised closer to the rock, the shapes came alive — row upon row of white-washed multi-storeyed buildings, their glass windows glinting in the noon sun. The road lay limp like a supine serpent on which were crawling ant-like cars... Read More..

FOR those of us on the wrong side of fifty, the mention of Casablanca brings alive black and white images of that electrifying pair — Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, exquisite in their 1940s outfits. But don't go to Casablanca with stars in your eyes and nostalgia tugging at your heart. Now it is a digital city that has little that is black and white. A sprawling metropolis more European than Madrid or Naples, Casablanca is going through an identity crisis.. Read More