Inspiring Travel Writing from Anthony Sattin
Anthony Sattin is a writer, critic and broadcaster. Since completing a literature degree at Warwick University and an MA in creative writing at the University of East Anglia, he has mixed writing, reviewing and travelling. He is the author of several books including a novel Shooting the Breeze, and the highly acclaimed The Pharaoh's Shadow, the subject of a Radio 4 documentary.
His passion for the Middle East, where he has lived for some years, also led to the discovery of Florence Nightingale's unpublished letters from Egypt, which he edited, subsequently chosen as book of the week on Radio 4. He has written for television, radio and for numerous publications in the UK and abroad and is a regular contributor to the Sunday Times books and travel pages.
Based in London, his heart flits between the Middle East and Africa. He has recently written "The Gates of Africa: Death, Discovery and the Search for Timbuktu" (HarperCollins, £25, or via www.sattin.co.uk). 'Highly readable and ironically humorous, a well-rounded and definitive study of the openings up of the African interior.' Sunday Times
His passion for the Middle East, where he has lived for some years, also led to the discovery of Florence Nightingale's unpublished letters from Egypt, which he edited, subsequently chosen as book of the week on Radio 4. He has written for television, radio and for numerous publications in the UK and abroad and is a regular contributor to the Sunday Times books and travel pages.
Based in London, his heart flits between the Middle East and Africa. He has recently written "The Gates of Africa: Death, Discovery and the Search for Timbuktu" (HarperCollins, £25, or via www.sattin.co.uk). 'Highly readable and ironically humorous, a well-rounded and definitive study of the openings up of the African interior.' Sunday Times
Articles by Anthony Sattin
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Happy Birthday, Abu’l-Hajjaj
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Anthony Sattin
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Egypt
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Nile
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Luxor
“God's blessing on you, ya Sidi Abu’l-Hajjaj.” Along the Luxor corniche, the morning light was soft and the wake sparkled behind the Mecca, the old iron-hulled ferry, as it made its short pilgrimage across the Nile. On shore, there was more than the...
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When in Bangkok... Get Massaged
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Anthony Sattin
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Thailand
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Bangkok Region
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Bangkok
I am lying naked on a white mattress, surrounded by plenty of teak and polished stone, while a Thai woman kneels to anoint me with herbal slop. I can smell the camphor and there's lemongrass, tamarind and things she won't divulge. Head to toe, front...
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The Ice Hotel, Sweden
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Anthony Sattin
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Sweden
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Lapland and the North
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Kiruna
The agent in London expressed concern about taking my young son to the Ice Hotel, but he couldn't have been more wrong. If it hadn’t already existed, it is just the sort of place Johnny would dream up. “Lapland?” He queried when I first mentioned...
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Going with the Flow
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Anthony Sattin
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Syria
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The Southern Provinces
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Damascus
It was snowing at 1,350 metres, big white flocks falling on the resort of Bludan, icing the sugary villas at the head of the valley and apartment blocks down the slope. It snowed until the whole immense landscape, the heights of Syria on this side...
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When in Cairo... belly dance
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Anthony Sattin
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Egypt
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Cairo & Giza
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Cairo
The two Englishwomen have come to the Meridien Hotel's reception for the same reason as me, to make reservations to see the bellydancer Fifi Abdu's weekly show. “A table of fifteen,” the women ask. The receptionist repeats the number to be sure he...
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Mallorca Walker
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Anthony Sattin
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Spain
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Menorca Island
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Menorca Town
August in Mallorca, immigration officials in Palma were turning away foreigners arriving without hotel bookings. The island was full and in the coastal resorts there was talk of water shortages and tourist surcharges. But not for me the crowded...
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Surfs Up: Bodyboarding in Newquay
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Anthony Sattin
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United Kingdom
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Devon and Cornwall
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Newquay
Mallorca is not an obvious place to nurture a taste for surf, but one unexpectedly stormy day last summer I attempted to cheer up Johnny, my long-faced seven-year old son, by buying him a bodyboard. A couple of hours later he was sparring with the...
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Essaouira
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Anthony Sattin
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Morocco
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Atlantic Coast
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Essaouira
M. Frederic Damgaard first entered the walled city of Essaouira some thirty years ago, when Yusuf Islam was still called Cat Stevens and when Jimi Hendrix and a host of other sixties "scene" people were hanging out, getting stoned on good, plentiful...
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Notes From Mali
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Anthony Sattin
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Mali
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Niger River
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Bamako
Four things are likely to pull you to Mali: the chance of digging deep into the Sahara, of cruising up the Niger River to Timbuktu, of visiting the Dogon, until recently one of the most intact of West Africa's indigenous people, or of feeling the...