Amira K. Bennison

Tourists a Millennium Ago Wanted to See the Sights — Just Like Us

Twelfth-century writer Ibn Abd Rabbih reveals a relish for travel that resonates strongly today. When he moves from the third to first person in his travel guides, we can understand this man who lived a millennium ago and share in his enduringly human enjoyment of seeing new places, a pleasure we relish all the more after two years in which we have been forced to be “armchair” travelers ourselves.