Travel Tuesday: Khan el-Khalili Souk in Cairo

Whenever I'm in Cairo, I like to visit Khan el-Khalili, the marketplace in the old medieval part of town. It was founded in the late 14th century and got a major remodel under the Mamluk Sultan al-Ghuri (reigned 1501-1516). While at street level a lot of the shops are stuffed with tourist trinkets and day to day wares, if you look up you'll be rewarded with some fine examples of Islamic architecture.

Bab al-Badistan, built 1511.

Meshribiyya, screened windows that allow women to look out without being seen by the people outside.

There are so many mosques in the area I 'm not sure which one this is.

Travel Tuesday: Treasures of the Egyptian Museum

Shabtis were put in tombs to act as servants in the afterlife.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I got back from Egypt last week, which means I have plenty of pictures for Travel Tuesday posts!

When I'm in Cairo I always reserve a couple of afternoons to wander around the National Museum. It's absolutely huge and no matter how many times I go there, I always see something new. A new National Museum is being constructed on the Giza Plateau near the pyramids. I passed the building the last time I went up there. It's a sleek, modern building that's even bigger than the existing museum. As with many government projects, it's behind schedule, but when it finally opens it promises to be stunning. In the meantime, we have the old museum to enjoy.

Stela of the Buchis Bull, showing one of the Ptolemaic pharaohs giving offerings to the sacred bull in their burial place in Armant. The Buchis bulls were manifestations of the god Ptah.

Two male figurines made of gold during the Late Predynastic period. Yep, these two guys are older than the oldest pharaoh!

Column of painted limestone carved to look like a lotus flower.

Travel Tuesday: A Medieval Synagogue in Córdoba, Spain

The entrance to the synagogue. The gallery above the entrance was reserved for women, who were kept out of sight of the men praying downstairs.

I just got back from Córdoba, a fascinating medieval town in southern Spain that was the capital of Islamic Spain for many years and remained important in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. A hallmark of the city during its Islamic rule was the large Jewish community, which got kicked out in 1492 when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled all the Jews and Muslims after completing the Reconquista.

Luckily a synagogue built in 1315, at the high point of Andalusian Jewish culture, has been remarkably preserved. Its decoration was common for Spanish synagogues of the time, incorporating complex plaster work in the Islamic style. After 1492, the building was used as a hospital and later a shoemaker's guild. At some point the plaster work was covered over, hiding it but also preserving it. In 1884, as the building fell into decay, some of this later mortar work fell away and the earlier decoration revealed. The synagogue was declared a national monument a year later.

The decoration is similar to a synagogue in Tangier I visited a couple of years ago. Click the link for more about that.

 

A closeup of the arch. Note the cross that was added later.

Travel Tuesday: Tetouan, Morocco

As regular readers of this blog know, if I'm posting about Morocco, I must be going there! That's right, I'll be spending the next ten days in Tangier working on the second Tangier mystery novel. The first, Tangier Bank Heist, will be coming out in mid-October.

So here are some shots of the medieval medina of Tetouan, a fine old city a short drive from Tangier. For more on Tetouan, see this article I wrote.

In the middle of the day, the streets are pretty abandoned. . .

. . .except for games of medina football!

Here's a somewhat warped rooftop panoramic view.

Travel Tuesday: Nabatean Funerary Stelae

A couple of weeks ago I visited Málaga in the south of Spain. Besides a couple of castles, which I blogged about here, I also saw the Ifergan Gallery, an interesting private collection of ancient art. Among the collection were these Nabatean Funerary Stelae.

The Nabatean civilization thrived from the 4th century BC until it was absorbed into the Roman Empire by Trajan in 106 AD. They lived in the Levant and Arabian Peninsula and controlled the trade routes connecting the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and Mediterranean. Remains of several of their cities can still be found in the deserts, including the famous site of Petra in Jordan.

One feature of their art was these enigmatic stone faces. They were placed on tombs and bore the names of the deceased. Similar stones were used to depict the gods in temples, although they tended to have more realistic features.

Cats of Cairo

Snoozing in the garden of the National Museum

Anyone who travels in the Muslim world will notice something--there are an awful lot of cats around. There's a big tradition of loving cats in Muslim society, especially Arab society. The Hadith even has a story about how Mohammad was sitting with some of his followers preaching when a cat curled up on the corner of his robe and went to sleep. When Mohammad finished his sermon the cat was still asleep, and rather than disturb it he cut off the corner of his robe.

In my last two writing retreats in Cairo, I met plenty of Egyptian cats. Here are a few.

Begging for food at a restaurant at Saqqara

Admiring the sunset along the Corniche on the banks of the Nile

The disused back staircase in my building has been taken over by cats

Admiring some historic Muslim architecture

My Travel Year: A Look Back and a Look Forward

This past year has been pretty good for travel with me. I went to Egypt twice, spending a total of six weeks there to start my Masked Man of Cairo neo-pulp detective series. I made some great friends, explored Cairo more thoroughly than I did when I was first there way back in 1991, and got to see the pyramids again. Always a plus! I also had an all-too-brief trip to Tangier. I've been to that city a dozen times now and it still relaxes me. It's a quick and cheap getaway from Madrid, being only an hour's flight away, and I always seem to get a lot of writing done. You see, I hardly ever go on a real vacation. All my trips are work trips but enjoyable anyway. As usual, my family and I spent Easter and the summer in Oxford as we do every year. I get lots of research done at the university library.

So what's in store for 2018? More Egypt, certainly, and perhaps a trip to Fez, a fascinating Moroccan city I still haven't explored. For Egypt I intend to go to the western oases, which I have never seen, and perhaps up the river again to revisit the sites around Luxor and Aswan. There will be the usual trips to England and around Spain, and perhaps a few other short trips. One trip I and my family would like to do is a visit to Paris. A good friend lives there and my son is taking French in school, so he can be our translator. And who knows what else 2018 will throw at me? We shall see.

Travel Tuesday: Traditional Sephardi Costume from Morocco

On a recent trip to Segovia near Madrid I spotted this in the local Jewish museum. It's a traditional boy's outfit from the Sephardi Jewish community in Morocco. Segovia had a thriving Jewish community until they were kicked out in 1492. Many joined their brethren in Morocco. Nowadays the Jewish community in Morocco, once about ten percent of the population, has dwindled significantly. Many left to move to the newly established state of Israel after the war and a few years later more left when Morocco became independent, fearing persecution. For more on Morocco's Jewish community, check out my post on a hidden synagogue in Tangier.

Travel Tuesday: Ancient Egyptian Shabtis

A variety of shabtis from the 19th and 20th dynasties (1292-1075 BC)

If you've spent much time in the Egyptology section of any good museum, you've probably seen a collection of little figurines that look like miniature mummies. These are called "shabtis", meaning "answerer". They were put in tombs in order to answer the call to work in the afterlife so that the deceased could relax. They'd come to life and do whatever labor the gods called on them to do.

Some shabtis got their own coffin and larger collections were put in decorated boxes like the one on the left.

Shabtis come in a variety of styles and quality and are made of wood, faience, wax, terracotta, or stone. Some tombs had hundreds of them, and they are one of the most common artifacts to find in museums. These are from the archaeological museum in Bologna, Italy.

I recently did a blog post over on Black Gate about shabtis in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo that goes into more detail about these remarkable artifacts. I've also done a post right here on a rare double shabti.

Travel Tuesday: Old Kingdom Death Mask from the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo

My recent trip to Egypt was actually the second time I visited that fascinating country. The first was way back in 1991. As I wandered around the sights, I was occasionally hit by deja vu. Other sights I remember clearly from my first visit. One of the latter is this arresting Old Kingdom death mask in the national museum in Cairo.

It stuck in my mind from my first visit because the face looks just like people you see in Egypt today. Indeed, despite Egypt being popularly perceived (and officially titled) an Arab nation, only 17% of the genetic makeup of the modern population is Arabic. A recent study by National Geographic found that the Egyptian population is genetically 68% North African, 17% Arab, 4% Jewish Diaspora, 3% East African, 3% from Asia Minor, and 3% southern European. Thus the modern Egyptian population is much the same as the ancient Egyptian population, and this 4,000 year old mask shows a face that can still be seen on the streets of Cairo today.

Travel Tuesday: Find the Moroccan Cat!

This is a shot of my rooftop in Tangier, Morocco. Can you spot the cat? Do NOT give the answer in the comments section!

My next trip will be the last two weeks of February, when I go to Cairo to work on a novel and see a friend. I'll be posting plenty of photos!

Travel Tuesday: El Castillo de Aulencia, Spain

My wife works about 15 miles outside of Madrid and this castle is right next to her research institute. Spring has finally sprung here in Spain and she took this amazing photo. It the winter this castle looks completely different, dark and brooding on its bare hill.

This is the Castillo de Aulencia, which guarded the confluence of the Aulencia and Guadarrama rivers. It started as an Arab castle until it was captured by the advancing Christian armies in the 14th century. They rebuilt the castle and most of what you see today dates to the 15th century. After the Reconquista pushed the Moors further and further south, this castle became less useful, especially after the Moors were kicked out of Spain entirely in 1492. Then it was allowed to slowly decay.

It took a few hits during the Spanish Civil War when the Battle of Brunete raged around it in 1937. It had a good view of the surrounding countryside so a unit of Russian volunteers on the Republican side held it for a time. The fascists pummeled the walls with artillery fire, forcing the Russians to withdraw.

Unfortunately this castle is not open to the public. This is the closest I've ever been!

Photo courtesy Almudena Alonso-Herrero.

Travel Tuesday: Archaeological Museum of Cuenca, Spain

The coolest artifact in the collection, a Roman brick that a couple of people stepped on while it was still wet. You can imagine the bricklayer screaming at the clueless pedestrian as he walked on it two thousand years ago, only to have a second person do the same thing!

Last weekend we got away from Madrid and spent some time in Cuenca, an hour's train ride from the capital. I'll be writing up this historic town more thoroughly in my usual Wednesday post over at Black Gate. In the meantime, here are some photos from the city's excellent little archaeological museum.

The museum has modest collections from the Neolithic, Medieval, and Early Modern periods and some impressive items from the Iron Age and Roman times. The province of Cuenca has three major Roman towns--Ercávica, Segóbriga, and Valeria, so the Roman section was especially good.

Roman feet!

Maybe the hipsters will make this style popular again.

This little guy is an Iron Age figurine, one of many in the museum's collection.

Travel Tuesday: National Poo Museum Opens in England

Yes, this is exactly what it looks like. It's a fox turd preserved in a resin sphere. I'm not a big fan of fox poo. It's sticky and smelly and is all over my son's skate park every morning. You see, the older kids who skate there at night leave food wrappers all over the place and the foxes nibble at whatever is left inside. Then the foxes dump right where they found the food, often pinning the wrapper to the pavement.

Perhaps this odd behavior will be explored in the new National Poo Museum at the Isle of Wight Zoo in England. This museum is a work in progress. Right now it's a "Poo at the Zoo" exhibition that will go on national tour in the fall. The focus is on crap, both human and animal, encapsulated in resin spheres in order to make them more visitor friendly. There's human poo, a tawny owl pellet containing the bones and teeth of its prey, 140 million year old fossil poo (called a coprolite by paleontologists) and a child’s shoe with a cat poo inside it.

The exhibition is lined with retro toilets. Visitors can lift the lids to discover amazing poo facts such as:

Probiotic foods are produced using healthy bacteria originally isolated from human feces.
If you take a dump on a train in Britain, there’s a 25% chance it will drop directly onto the tracks, because many carriages have never been fitted with sewage holding tanks.
Wombats are the only animal known to produce cubic poos, probably to prevent their territory-marking poos from rolling off the rocks where they are deposited.

There's also some more serious information about the need for proper waste treatment in developing countries. Poor sanitation leads to disease and is a major killer in some regions.

To read more about my personal experiences crapping around the world, see my guide to squat toilets post I did for blogger buddy Alex Cavanaugh a while back. And go visit the National Poo Museum!

Photo courtesy National Poo Museum.

Travel Tuesday: Obama in Ethiopia

The American elections are in full swing and it has to be the most unpredictable race I've seen since I started paying attention in the 80s. But whoever wins, one thing is for certain--Obama will leave the White House in November. I wrote about his nomination way back in 2008 in a strangely prescient post.

Love him or hate him, Obama is a historic president, and it isn't just Americans who think so. When I was in Ethiopia I saw pictures of him all over. Above is the Obama Hotel near Addis Ababa. I didn't get to stay there, so I can't tell you if the accommodations filled me with hope or if they really serve Johnny Walker. When I was in Harar in eastern Ethiopia I came across these cool Obama pens, imported from Kenya. Actually they were just standard ballpoint pens with Obama's name printed on them. I think I still have a couple of those around somewhere. I also gave one to a woman who worked on his campaign. She got a chuckle from that.

Next year will we see a Trump Hotel or Clinton pens in Africa? I don't think so!

Travel Tuesday: Little Details from Famous Sites

When I'm traveling, I like to get shots of the little details. Of course I get the big scenes too, but those little details are often just as interesting. Last week on the Black Gate blog I wrote about Lalibela, an amazing UNESCO World Heritage Site in Ethiopia. Back in the 12th century, the Ethiopians constructed eleven magnificent churches by cutting them out of the bedrock. That's right, they didn't build up, they dug down!

Lalibela is an impressive site, and in the post I linked to above I published some views of the exterior and interior of the churches. I also got some more intimate shots. The above photo shows the lock and bolt on one of the church doors. I like how the indirect sunlight brings out the texture of the wood. Below is a shot of some Ethiopian crosses for sale in a nearby shop. Lalibela is a major pilgrimage site for Ethiopian Christians and the distinct Ethiopian crosses are popular mementos for Ethiopians and foreigners alike. I like how the red background really brings out the brass of the crosses.

So the next time you're at the Eiffel Tower of the Pyramids, don't miss the little details!

Travel Tuesday: Disturbing Artifacts in the Royal College of Physicians, London

Good for what ails you. Also a tasty snack!

I just got back from a research trip to England and managed to get a day in London to see friends and pop into a couple of museums. I made a point of going to the Royal College of Physicians, which has an excellent exhibition on the famous scientist and occultist John Dee. I'll be writing that up for Black Gate tomorrow for my usual Wednesday post. Today, though, I'd like to share some of the medical artifacts they have in their regular collection. If you like to complain about the level of your health care, just be glad you weren't born a couple of hundred years ago!

A surgeon's kit from 1653. Many of the original instruments are still in it.

 

"Hold still, this won't hurt a bit." Contrary to popular belief, surgeon's sometimes did use painkillers before the invention of general anesthesia. Opium was common, as was alcohol.

A preserved baby's caul from the 19th century.

 

Gold "touch piece" coins c. 1660-1685. These were used in public healing ceremonies by British monarchs from the 15th century onwards, although the belief that a monarch could heal by touch dates to far earlier. It was believed that God granted the monarch the ability to cure scrofula ("the King's illness") a form of tuberculosis. Charles I cured some 100,000 of his subjects by placing one of these around their neck. They were worn at the end of a ribbon like a pendant and were called "angels" after the image of the Archangel Michael that decorates them. George I ended this practice in the 18th century, thinking it was all silly superstition. With the modern rise of new strains of TB, perhaps Queen Elizabeth will renew the practice?