The Medina of Tunis | Fraser Harrison | Tunisia, Tunis and the North Coast, Tunis

Not so long ago, before the French colonial period, the Medina of Tunis was Tunis. Now it is a city within a city, an oval labyrinth of winding, narrow streets which forms a self-contained unit

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Painters in North Africa | Barnaby Rogerson | Tunisia, Tunis and the North Coast, Tunis

Travelling through North Africa you do not need paintings. The streets are so triumphantly full of life, the markets so full of colour and the land so filled with light that you come indoors for a visual rest

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Tunis for the Weekend | Barnaby Rogerson | Tunisia, Tunis and the North Coast, Tunis

Tunis, ah yes. Well, I have always longed to see the ruins of Carthage. And so they should. Tunis is one of the great cities of the Mediterranean and if you live in Europe it is just a short flight away

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Through a Glass Darkly: North Africa as seen through English travel writing | Barnaby Rogerson | Tunisia, Tunis and the North Coast, Tunis

For the reader of English there is a well-established body of North African travel writing which remains in print, cheaply and easily available in paperback

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Have You Met the Colonel? | Barnaby Rogerson | Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Tripoli, Tripoli

Libya creates a knee jerk response in conversation. "Have you met Colonel Qaddafi?" is followed by "is it safe?" After six years taking lecture tours round its unforgettable classical ruins, all I can say is

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Libya Sur Commande | Barnaby Rogerson | Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Tripoli, Tripoli

I have plotted, schemed and tried to charm my way onto various expeditions into Libya and its Sahara over the last twelve years but this was my first command

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A Tripolitanian Shopping Basket | Fiona Dunlop | Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Tripoli, Tripoli

While you are unlikely to find a Libyan restaurant beyond their borders, Libyan food is far more than just ‘tent cookery’, as a string of foreign invaders has made for a gastro-eclectically cuisine

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Cairo | Annabel Skinner | Egypt, Cairo and Giza, Cairo

The head of the boy at my side only came up to my shoulder, but his bright eyes and confident persistence were helplessly engaging. "My friend, follow me..."

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When in Cairo... belly dance | Anthony Sattin | Egypt, Cairo and Giza, Cairo

Madame Fifi, self-crowned Queen of the Nile, caught in a single spotlight, feted by a fanfare from her 30-member band. She is tall and solid, a rounded Egyptian beauty in diaphanous red robe and sequined bikini

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The Grand Tour: Style on the Nile | John Borthwick | Egypt, Cairo and Giza, Cairo

Teeing off from, or even climbing, the pyramids is no longer permitted, but the Giza circus that swirls around them hasn't abated a jot since the Duke of Windsor's day, if not the pharaoh's

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