Taroudant is a wonderful walled town east of Agadir on the way to Ouarzazate in Morocco. If you’re doing a road trip from Marrakesh to the Sahara make sure you stop overnight. There’s a small bustling souq that rarely sees foreigners, and yet the stallholders have a relaxed demeanour. The best buy here is handmade … Read more about Taroudant: the hot chip man
This is a little shop that’s typical of many in Aleppo’s atmospheric souq, selling everything from medicinal herbs and dried lizard skins to Clairol hair colors and loofahs for the hammam. it’s a bit like a Boots pharmacy really, only the service is better. Have you ever tried to carry your groceries on your head? … Read more about Aleppo: souq pharmacy
This is Marrakesh souq around midday Friday, when everyone is at prayers. It’s the only time you ever really notice the light filtering through the roof and how wide the ‘narrow’ lanes are. When the souq is in business it’s chaotic. A cacophony of colour, sounds, and smells. You can’t think. You can’t move. You … Read more about Marrakesh souq midday Friday
What do you think of her? She’s beautiful, right? She’s like the Mona Lisa, is she not? No matter where I walk, her eyes follow me. I want to tell you where to find her but I’d rather you discover her for yourself. That’s the thing I hate about guidebooks… if I was was writing … Read more about Morocco: Marrakesh Mona Lisa
I want to share with you the things I find cool when I travel. The things I can’t share with you in the guidebooks I write. Take this scene from the Aleppo souq. It’s two in the afternoon and this man’s asleep at his shop. It’s a cane shop. And they certainly look like nice … Read more about Aleppo: no practicalities