Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the

Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footsteps of Islam's Greatest Traveler

In 1325, the great Arab traveler Ibn Battutah set out from his native Tangier in North Africa on pilgrimage to Mecca. By the time he returned nearly thirty years later, he had seen most of the known world, covering three times the distance allegedly traveled by the great Venetian explorer Marco Poloâ€”some 75,000 miles in all.

Captivated by Ibn Battutahâ€™s account of his journey, the Arabic scholar and award-winning travel writer Tim Mackintosh-Smith set out to follow in the peripatetic Moroccanâ€™s footsteps. Traversing Egyptian deserts and remote islands in the Arabian Sea, visiting castles in Syria and innumerable souks in medieval Islamâ€™s great cities, Mackintosh-Smith sought clues to Ibn Battutahâ€™s life and times, encountering the ghost of â€œIBâ€ in everything from place names (in Tangier alone, a hotel, street, airport, and ferry bear IBâ€™s name), to dietary staples to an Arabic online dating serviceâ€” and introducing us to a world of unimaginable wonders.

By necessity, Mackintosh-Smithâ€™s journey may have cut some corners (â€œI only wish I had the odd thirty years to spare, and Ibn Battutahâ€™s enviable knack of extracting large amounts of cash, robes and slaves from compliant rulers.â€) But in this wry, evocative, and uniquely engaging travelogue, he spares no effort in giving readers an unforgettable glimpse into both the present-day and fourteenth-century Islamic worlds.
Country USA
Brand Random House Trade Paperbacks
Manufacturer Random House Publishing Group
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber YES905588
Color Multicolor
ReleaseDate 2004-06-08
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780812971644

Country	USA
Brand	Random House Trade Paperbacks
Manufacturer	Random House Publishing Group
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	YES905588
Color	Multicolor
ReleaseDate	2004-06-08
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780812971644

Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footsteps of Islam's Greatest Traveler

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