By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer While driving through the Algarve region of Portugal with my family, I stopped at a small restaurant in Albufeira. The city’s unmistakable Moorish imprint from the 500 years of Arab rule in Algarve was evident. Its Castelo de Almoàda, with its traces of Moorish architecture along with the surrounding lush countryside-first … Continued
By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer No sooner had we left Murcia, noted for its historic churches then we were in the surrounding huerta (irrigated orchards and gardens), on our way to Archena, well known for its mineral water baths. As many have done through the centuries, we were travelling to visit this natural healing … Continued
By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer I was almost exhausted as I laboured up the last few steps of the Giralda – Seville’s most outstanding monument. A former minaret of that city’s once Grand Mosque, it appeared, after a ten-minute climb, to reach for the sky and its top an almost unattainable goal. Yet, I … Continued
By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer Calling it “the gem of the world”, the 9th century German nun, Hrosvitha went on to describe Córdoba, Arab Spain’s capital: “In the western part of the globe, there shone forth a beautiful ornament – a city well cultured – rich and known by the famous name of … Continued
By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer For many years the playground of tourists from Europe and the Americas, Malaga, capital of Spain’s Costa del Sol, has only in the last few years been on the vacation itinerary of the Arabs. Yet, once when their ancestors ruled the Iberian Peninsula, they made Malaga an earthly paradise. … Continued
By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer Leaving Tordesillas, famous for the ‘Treaty of Tordesillas’ which divided the world between Spain and Portugal and where Spain’s Charles V, kept his mother in a convent-fortress for 46 years, we drove southward through the plains of Castile. Our goal this day was to visit Salamanca, the first city … Continued
By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer Throughout the ranks of the traveling public in the Western world, the name Andalusia is synonymous with dark-haired beauties, flowers, splendid precessions, light-hearted gaiety, the halo of enchanted patios, and romance. Visitors roaming that delightful par of Spain searching for these attributes will be able to find them in … Continued
SOURCE: FACE2FACE AFRICA BY: NII NTREH Mustafa al-Zemmouri, or Mustafa from Azemmour, is thought to be the first Arabic-speaking person to land in the so-called New World. Not much is known about him even though according to Moroccan-American professor Laila Lalami, more people have come to know of the man’s voyage since she wrote a … Continued
By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer Described by the ancient Greeks and Romans as ‘The Fortunate Isles’ and at other times as ‘Isles of the Blest’, the Canary Islands were, for countless centuries, a mysterious part of the world. Shrouded by an aura of myth and romance, their history became wrapped in fiction and legends. … Continued
By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer “The city of Murcia with its resorts on Coasta Cálida combines history and modern leisure. This is why tourism has become our number one industry.” The pleasant Mercedes Garcia, Commercial Advisor for the city Murcia seemed proud of her town’s achievement. Yet, tourism is a relatively new industry in this … Continued
By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer While in Damascus in the mid 1980s, I had read that Almuñécar had raised a statue to honor Abderramán Al-Dakhal who had landed, in 755 A.D., in this Andalusian town. Fleeing the massacre of the members of his Umayyad dynasty in Damascus, he had single-handedly established Al-Andalus – a … Continued
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