Travels along the length of the not-so-Blue Danube, crossing borders from Germany to Romania, traversing cultures, economies and the old iron curtain, and culminating in a dip in the Black Sea.
Like the river, long but vastly varied.
Amazon.co.uk link: Blue River, Black Sea – Andrew Eames
Back to history-based travel writing after my recent detours into mediaeval and (almost) modern history, with Andrew Eames’ account of the mid-life Middle Eastern travels of Agatha Christie managing to mirror Colm Toibin’s biography of a famous author theme.
I thoroughly enjoyed this account of Andrew Eames’ journey from Berkshire to Baghdad. Tracing Agatha Christie’s own travels on the Orient Express in its heyday (and minus murders), Eames takes us on an increasingly adventurous itinery from British suburbia through continental Europe into the Balkans through Turkey to Syria and finally across the desert and into pre-war Iraq. I realised that his trip to Iraq was with Hinterland Travel – run by a knowledgable and reassuring chap called Geoff, with whom I had an interesting chat at a Destinations travel exhibition years ago.
At the same time he tells the fascinating story of Agatha Christie’s life, from her failed first marriage to her happier second marriage and archaeological digs in the then British Mandate of Mesopotamia. I swiftly revised my Miss Marple image ….
Amazon.co.uk link: The 8.55 to Baghdad – Andrew Eames