Waking up at my hotel, Dar Ben Gacem, in Tunis’ Medina (old city) puts a smile on my face. The hotel is built into what was once either a private home of a wealthy family or a madrasa (an Islamic school); both have similar feels, with a series of rooms around a central courtyard, so…
For most American travelers, sights associated with early Christianity are fairly common, and much is known. But for non-Muslims, sights associated with early Islam are a bit less part of the beaten path of tourism. Some of this is practical; the major cities associated with the prophet Muhammad, founder of Islam, in Saudi Arabia aren’t…
“Carthago delenda est.” So bitter was the rivalry between Rome and Carthage that famed Roman orator Cato the Elder ended every speech to the Roman Senate with these words. Carthago delenda est. Carthage must be destroyed. And so it was. By the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BCE, the arguably most successful…
In March of 2020, I was supposed to visit Marrakech as part of my Spain and Portugal adventure. It was to be my first time in Morocco, and my first time on the African continent. Well, that didn’t happen, for obvious reasons. Covid forced the early termination of that trip, and it has taken me…