We left Aqaba at dawn. Squat buildings and palm trees receded into the desert behind us as our jeep spat up clouds of dust. Travelling the King’s Highway, we reached Petra in two hours, and took a light breakfast at the Petra Forum, a local hotel. Afterwards, we hired two fine horses — Ruba a…
Patricia Paddey: a Christian’s view of Israel
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Toronto-area journalist Patricia Paddey, who writes for several Christian magazines and newspapers in Canada, says that a recent trip to Israel (2005) reinforced her faith in ways she couldn’t have anticipated. “It’s almost as though I was reading my bible in black and white before and now I’m reading it in colour,” she said of…
A sensational Toronto murder from 1894
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Eighteen-year-old Frank Westwood had gone out with friends about 7.30 that Saturday evening, October 6, 1894. By the time he returned to his family’s Jameson Avenue mansion about 10:30, his father, sister and brother had already retired upstairs; his mother, seeing he was safely in, shortly went up, too, leaving him on the stairs. The…
Conversations with Woody Allen
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Woody Allen once famously quipped: “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.” Whether or not he achieves his wish, his name has already attained the poetic equivalent of immortality due to his extraordinary film career. Although the celebrated writer-director has often portrayed himself on screen…
Bevis Marks Synagogue was founded 1701
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London’s Bevis Marks Synagogue, which marks its 300th anniversary this week, was one of only a few buildings in its east-end neighbourhood to emerge unscathed from the Nazi bombing blitz of World War Two. Twice rattled by IRA bombs intended for nearby targets, the elegant brown-brick building still stands proudly in its tiny protective courtyard.…
Travel in the post-9/11 era
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In some way, being on a modern jet aircraft is like riding a magic carpet from the Arabian Nights. No matter how often I fly, I always retain a sense of awe and wonder about the essentially miraculous process of jet travel. Have you ever wondered how Leif Erikson, Marco Polo or Christopher Columbus might…
A Jewish homeland on Grand Island, 1825
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Manuel Mordecai Noah, an American Jew born in Philadelphia in 1785, did much world travelling in his day — he visited Europe numerous times and was the US consul to Tunis — but it is perhaps the tale surrounding his travels from New York City to the upper reaches of New York State in 1825…
In the Yucatan, Mayan temples and Spanish conquistadors
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“The main thing to remember,” said Pepe, our Mexican guide, “is that the Mayans believed in reincarnation. They believed that unless they fed the sun every morning it would not rise.” High on a promontory overlooking Mexico’s Yucatan coast, Tulum is the only temple the Mayans built by the sea. Considered holy ground, it was…
Profile: Honest Ed Mirvish (2001)
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If this year is anything like previous years, the sun will be shining when “Honest” Ed Mirvish, Toronto’s legendary salesman and theatre impresario, hosts a mammoth street party on Sunday July 22 in celebration of his 87th birthday, offering free refreshments and entertainment to as many as 60,000 people over a seven-hour period. The party…
Merida, a Roman retirement community in Spain
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Merida, a city of 41,000 inhabitants in the Spanish province of Estremadura, boasts the most spectacular Roman ruins in Spain and an outstanding museum in which many impressive ancient treasures are housed. One’s introduction to the National Museum of Roman Art in Merida is the town itself. Merida was founded in 25 BC and named…
