Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footsteps of Islam's Greatest Traveler [Paperback]

Tim Mackintosh-Smith (Author), Martin Yeoman (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: June 8, 2004

In 1325, the great Arab traveler Ibn Battutah set out from his native Tangier in North Africa on pilgrimage to Mecca. By the time he returned nearly thirty years later, he had seen most of the known world, covering three times the distance allegedly traveled by the great Venetian explorer Marco Polo—some 75,000 miles in all.

Captivated by Ibn Battutah’s account of his journey, the Arabic scholar and award-winning travel writer Tim Mackintosh-Smith set out to follow in the peripatetic Moroccan’s footsteps. Traversing Egyptian deserts and remote islands in the Arabian Sea, visiting castles in Syria and innumerable souks in medieval Islam’s great cities, Mackintosh-Smith sought clues to Ibn Battutah’s life and times, encountering the ghost of “IB” in everything from place names (in Tangier alone, a hotel, street, airport, and ferry bear IB’s name), to dietary staples to an Arabic online dating service— and introducing us to a world of unimaginable wonders.

By necessity, Mackintosh-Smith’s journey may have cut some corners (“I only wish I had the odd thirty years to spare, and Ibn Battutah’s enviable knack of extracting large amounts of cash, robes and slaves from compliant rulers.”) But in this wry, evocative, and uniquely engaging travelogue, he spares no effort in giving readers an unforgettable glimpse into both the present-day and fourteenth-century Islamic worlds.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author (Yemen: The Unknown Arabia), a British Arabist who has lived in Yemen for the past 17 years, traces the footsteps of an extraordinary, but relatively unknown, medieval explorer. Ibn Battutah (1304-1368) grew up in Tangier within an educated family. At the age of 21, he embarked on a pilgrimage to Mecca and spent the next 30 years traveling throughout the Middle and Far East. When Mackintosh-Smith happened on a translated version of Battutah's travels, he was hooked and decided to make the same journey. This volume covers only the first part of Battutah's path, from Tangier to Constantinople, but has enough excitement, exotic details and information to satisfy the most exacting armchair traveler. The author brings his research skills, scholarship and respect for all cultures to bear on Battutah's adventures and his own. Written with humor and style, he describes how Battutah "schmoozed with sultans" in Denizli, Turkey. In Damascus, the author enjoys a brain burger for breakfast before visiting the Umayyad Mosque, a structure Battutah detailed in 10 pages and referred to as "the greatest Mosque on earth." Throughout this narrative, Mackintosh-Smith provides enough anecdotes about Battutah's knowledge of aphrodisiacs, the foods he ate, the hardships he endured, the people he met and, most tellingly, the wonders he beheld to bring this unique daredevil and his times to life. B&w illus.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In 1325, great Moroccan traveler Ibn Battutah set out on a 29-year pilgrimage from his native Tangiers to Mecca. In this studious and charming account, Arabic scholar Mackintosh-Smith, Thomas Cook Travel Book Award winner for Yemen: Travels in Dictionary Land, attempts to retrace Ibn Battutah's route on the first stage of his legendary journey, cutting a wide swath from Tangiers to Constantinople via Egypt, Syria, Oman, Anatolia, and the Crimea. Mecca, which is verboten to the non-Muslim author, is not included. Mackintosh-Smith writes with a delectable wit, offering a fascinating glimpse into both the present-day and 14th-century Islamic worlds. He makes his experiences intelligible to the Western reader with numerous allusions, e.g., "Ibn Battutah was born not just in a medieval Age of Aquarius, but in its California." This captivating travel narrative may spur readers to tackle the original travels of Ibn Battutah. Recommended for all collections. Ravi Shenoy, Naperville P.L., IL
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (June 8, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812971647
• ISBN-13: 978-0812971644
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #422,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #40 in Books > Travel > Africa > Morocco

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and extensive history August 26, 2002

By Tracy Davis

Format:Hardcover

'Travels with a Tangerine' is an excellent travel book and history book that chronicles the adventures of Ibn Battuta, one of the most famous Muslim explorers of the Euroepean 'Middle Ages'. Mackintosh-Smith, a 17-year resident of Yemen, follows "IB's" route from Morocco to Egypt to the Saudi Arabian peninsula to the Crimea and Istanbul, IB's 'Travels' as his main guide. Mackintosh-Smith's adventures are as compelling as IB's, and it is remarkable how much has not changed in the almost 700 years since IB began what was a 25-year journey that took him to China and back. The narrative is both entertaining and informative; however, it was a little dense at times, and I wish I knew more about IB and Muslim history before I started the book. The author gives one of the most balanced accounts of the modern Muslim world that I have ever read, and it's great to read about regular people who respect themselves and others, in contrast to the sensationalistic news reports we are bombarded with every night. A good book and a great adventure.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth the effort February 18, 2005

By Nhaka

Format:Paperback

If you are interested in the genre of travel writing where it merges with history then this book is worth the effort that it takes to read it. It takes a chapter, or two, to get used to the style of writing. Unlike so many other books of this type the editor has permitted the author to keep the quirks of style that allow the reader to acknowledge the presence of the individual rather than the blandness found in so many other books. As a result you gain an insight into the worlds of the author and IB. The fact that Mackintosh-Smith speaks fluent Arabic gives a depth to the book that is rare in similar works.

I read this book slowly and with great interest. Having some knowledge of the history of the region does help but is not a prerequisite. The reader is taken on a slow journey into a region of the world that is all to often portrayed as bordering on permanent chaos. It is not a book for someone who wants to skim or is disinterested in the minutiae of traveling in the footsteps of a long gone traveler. The end result is a satisfying and enjoyable read.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Polymath tells all May 21, 2003

By D. P. Birkett

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

A retracing of some of the journeys (Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Southern Arabia, the Kuria Muria Islands,Turkey and the Crimea)of the fourteenth century traveller, Ibn Battuta.
The author is a British born and educated Yemen resident, fluent in classical and colloquial Arabic and deeply learned in history and music. The book contains quotations in French, German, Russian (in the Cyrillic alphabet), Turkish and Greek. I thought I'd caught him misquoting Pliny, but then realized he was making a Latin joke. Some of his polyglot puns are outrageous. In The Umayyad mosque in Damascus he found Ismailis and Shiites at prayer, but that the orthodox were keeping the Sunni side up.
The long digressions on obscure Arab writers and religious teachers and the intrusive parade of erudition might put some people off. It's a bit like reading Umberto Ecco where some readers, such as myself, get entranced by the writer's flattering assumption that we are as clever as he is.
He travelled rough and travelled alone. He explains at one point that he cannot marry because he is an "ah, orientalist." He shows much interest in, and sympathy with, the Moslem religion but I got the impression that. like his fellow orientalist, TE Lawrence, he likes Arabs best if they are poor and rural, a faintly patronizing attitude.