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One
in the Lonely Planet Journeys Series
Author: Eric Newby
As they travel around the sea at the
centre of Western history, Eric Newby
and his wife Wanda visit not only the
better-known Mediterranean sights and
cities but also venture into places where
Westerners are few: Albania under Hoxha,
the holy Muslim city of Fez, and a country
about to disappear in civil war - the
former Yugoslavia.
Newby entertains and enlightens as
he follows in the footsteps of Cleopatra
and St John, and waits for a meeting
with Colonel Gaddafi. With his flair
for description, he is equally at ease
pondering King David's choice of Jerusalem
as the site for a capital city or enjoying
a meal cooked by one of France's finest
chefs. His acute curiosity and encyclopedic
knowledge combine to make absorbing reading,
whether he is explaining the workings
of a defunct Turkish harem or the contemporary
Mafia. From antiquity to the present,
this is an erudite, engaging tale.
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