Feature

Tripoli, Lebanon Let me be clear. I do not strip naked for anyone, generally only a select few. So, to be told to disrobe in full view of others, my modesty protected by a lookalike beach towel held by an Arab, was not something I had expected. It was Tripoli, northern Lebanon, and I had decided to visit its one functioning hammam. Before I entered, I thought hammams were designed for washing. By the time I left I realised they were a life experience. The Hammam Al Abd is tucked away at[...]

Taormina, Sicily, Italy I have lost count how often I have tried to take the perfect sunrise photograph. Or, for that matter, sunset. It is why I am sitting on a rickety plastic chair, on a roof of a rectangular apartment block, slightly west of the Sicilian town of Taormina. It is also why, at 4 a.m. as my watch shows, I am feeling stupid for not realising that sunrise is still an hour away. That could have been longer in bed. The sharp silhouette of a smoking Mount Etna forms the[...]

Bath, United Kingdom I was not expecting Bath to be chaos, especially when it came to Christmas. Yet as I drove into its city centre early on a winter’s evening, I realised this scenic Georgian town was the epicentre of mayhem.It was the annual Christmas Market that did it, an event that straddles 18 days and dominates the city. Stalls, which are largely wooden minichalets, are tidily arranged in key positions, each merchant competing with the others for maximum attention and custom. Buses carry shoppers from out-of-town locations while finding an empty parking[...]

Tripoli, Lebanon When I next see a piece of soap lying lonely in a dish, I swear I will spend a moment in reflection. After all, soap was always something simple, nothing special, and designed solely to help me wash. When out for my weekly shop, wandering aimlessly past regimented supermarket shelves, I would head straight for the shower gels in their fancy plastic containers. For a gift I would buy something classier. But the key was always simplicity and convenience. Soap was nothing remarkable. It was there merely to keep me[...]

Chamonix, France You are near a mountain summit, your skis are on, or perhaps a snowboard is underfoot, and you have decided to venture off piste. Before dawn, you heard the crump of distant explosive as local rangers cleared the pistes of powder crystals, but for you it is different. You enjoy the fresh, uncleared snow, which is so thin and light that when you ski it rises to your knees. Below you extends a gleaming slope, twinkling in the morning, and you cannot wait to get started. Briefly, you check around[...]

London, United Kingdom I have done it. I have survived my first Christmas Fair, the Spirit of Christmas at London’s Olympia. Me, Mr Grumpy, who has long claimed Christmas is for others and he should have nothing to do with it. It has always been too difficult. I am the one, actually one of many, who leaves shopping until the last minute. I am the one running down the High Street last thing on Christmas Eve, panicking because I have yet to buy a present. Each year I promise to do better[...]