Oh, cool–I need to check that out.
I’d been intrigued by Jan Morris’s portraits of foreign cities, but none so much as Hav.
She penned a Twain and Burton-esque depiction of an ancient town with “a flavor of the eastern Mediterranean in the intersections of Greek, Crusader, Muslim, Venetian, Russian, British, and Turkish histories…” (Review of Hav by Jan Morris (2006))
In fact, both those gentlemen and Hemingway as well, were visitors to Hav, and made indelible marks on the rulers of Hav as they attempted to make peace with the modern world from their idyllic refuge.
There is so much wondrous detail (the morning call to prayer, the race through the city’s maze, the snow raspberries that only bloom one day a year).
“Miss Morris excels at evoking the common sights and flavors of Hav – its teeming waterfront and noisy restaurants; the office workers in the parks, their paperwork spread out over the dry, brown grass of high summer; the single refugee American hippie beached on Hav’s shore…” (The New York Times: Book Review Search Article)
.
The only disappointing thing about Hav is that it only exists in the mind of Jan Morris. And now mine, as well.
.
People are so similar that I have often thought you could write a generic travel guide applicable to most countries.
Visitors often flock to Capital City to see the famous Religious Building, walk by the beautiful buildings by Water Feature after dinner, and enjoy the typical meal of Foodstuffs In Sauce. The National Museum and Very Famous Art Gallery might be worth a visit. In the rest of Nation, people make fun of the Capitalanos and say they are pretentious and unfriendly.
Second City is home to many businesses and much of government. Seconders are direct, love material objects, and think the rest of Nation lazy and unsophisticated. It is a good place to buy Local Fashion and get a good deal on National Thing Made Of Stone or Weird Herby-Licorice Liquor To Take Home. Many foreign students learn Nationalese at Big University.
No one much visits Third City, the provincial capital, which is a Shame. It is traditional, full of rustic charm, off the beaten path and captures the feisty spirit of Nation. Visit the Historic District, enjoy cheap and more authentic Foodstuffs In Sauce, watch the Local Dance In Shiny Costume, and enjoy some tranquility as most tourists rarely visit Third City except during the Festival of Dressing Up And Drinking Heavily, or when passing through the airport on the way to Betterplace. Famous Artist once lived there, and you can visit her house.
For anyone wanting to know more about Capital City (and, of course, Third City’s Festival of Dressing Up And Drinking Heavily), Dr. P has requested your help in writing the travel guide to the nation of Nation.
Be sure to visit Post 5, where you’ll realize why That Building Over There looks familiar, and you’ll want to stop by Post 10 where you can delve into the country’s historical underpinnings!
One of my favourite, older travel books is Eothen by Alexander William Kinglake. He was a well-off Englishman who ventured across the Ottoman Empire in the 1830s, from the Balkans through Contantinople & Jerusalem to Egypt and North Africa. Wonderful light touch as he describes the food, locals, bureaucracy, and lots more.
Here’s a Goodreads link with various short reviews of it.
And before him there was Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who among other things wrote about and promoted inoculation.