num_pages: 501
description: 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 Albania under Hoxha, the holy Muslim city of Fez, and a country about to disappear in civil war - the former Yugoslavia. Eric 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 customary 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, Eric Newby's erudite, engaging tale is not a simple tour but a tour de force .
language: English
title: On the Shores of the Mediterranean
titlecomplete: On the Shores of the Mediterranean
genres: History, Travel, Italy, Memoir, Nonfiction, Morocco
ratings_count: 255
publisher: Lonely Planet