hidden europe 70

Untold tales

by hidden europe

Summary

There were the journeys planned, the journeys made, and also the journeys never made. And our list of likely topics for hidden europe just grew and grew. Whatever will happen to the untold tales?

In the very first issue of hidden europe magazine, we published reports from Bohemia, Sicily, Poland, the Outer Hebrides and much more. “How will you ever manage to sustain such a rich flow of stories?” asked a reader from Ireland at the time. In truth, we were ourselves a little nervous on that count.

Our worries were misplaced. We quickly discovered that there were stories to be told about even the least promising places. In the early days of the magazine, we were quite purposeful in planning journeys and the articles which would derive from those journeys. That planning stood us in good stead. But in time we realised that we could alight from the slow train pretty well anywhere and tell a good tale.

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Editorial hidden europe 63

Is there not a measure of absurdity in all our lives today? We have discovered that it’s hardly possible to plan anything. And yet there is a certain liberation in simply not trying to plan, in just receiving with simplicity all that might come our way. This may of course be the secret of enjoying travel, as and when the day comes when we can start exploring Europe again.

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Editorial hidden europe 46

Welcome to issue 46 of hidden europe travel magazine. In this issue we walk through Lisbon and take the ferry to Iceland's Vestmannaeyjar. We also explore the Suffulk coast of England and visit the Danube wetlands and the Scottish Cairngorms.

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The warm shadow of Isabelle Eberhardt

Many years ago, I spent a long hot summer in and around a sleepy ksar on the edge of the Sahara. I read many books that summer, but it was 'Dans l’ombre chaude de l’Islam' that tugged and tugged again, urging me to return to its pages. That book was my introduction to Isabelle Eberhardt, a writer who — perhaps more than any other — has influenced my life and my thinking. This summer, so far from the desert and in a country where the most charming of all oases is my garden, I turned to Sharon Bangert’s English translation of 'Dans l’ombre chaude de l’Islam'. It appears under the Peter Owen imprint in a pocket-sized paperback.