About this book
An illustrated travelogue of one woman’s journeys across Europe over several years. With her smartphone camera and insatiable curiosity, she made it a point to learn and photograph everything she could about everywhere she went.
Inside, you’ll find a shop that sells cubed earwax and zombie breath mints. You’ll learn about the Fado, and Portuguese workers who sing these aching songs. You’ll read about the invention of the door, and visit the Estonian island run entirely by women. You’ll go North, to giant country, and East, to old walled cities. You’ll find the histories of these places – from Spain’s Arabic past to Malta’s holy parties – and see the simple human-ness of people across that continent we sometimes call “the Old World”.
Whether you’re planning your own adventures; or just adventuring from an armchair, the street stories of Europe are ready to whisper and to sing to you.
May they find you well.
In my adult life, I have been the stranger who comes to town many a time. In the 27 years since we left our country of birth, my husband and I have lived and worked in three nations, on as many landmasses. Yet each time we changed nations and began the processes of immigration and integration anew, I found that the last change had prepared me for our next, and it was this growth that helped me to create a home wherever we went. My growth throughout these adventures took many forms, but central among them was my blossoming love for the unimaginable diversity of our world, the endless richness and multiplicity of people and their cultures. A tantalising contradiction was revealed to me: all the cultures that we joined promised a distinct way of living life while providing example after example of our profound commonality in just being humans who want to live, love, and be loved.
Our most recent relocation was to the beautiful small town of Esher in Surrey, England. It was while living there that my wanderings around Europe began and multiplied, as I realised how little I knew and how far I had to go. In my pocket, at the ready, snuggled my humble smartphone camera, and as far as my willing feet would take me, I observed and captured the scenery, townsfolk, and, well, simply life.
I travelled to Slovenia, Estonia, Malta, Finland, Austria, and other countries
across Europe. I hunted for tales of the past, narratives of the present,
intriguing entranceways, peculiar shops, and unusual cemeteries.
Throughout my travels, my phone was my closest companion. It allowed me to respond to the urgency of framing these moments so that their meanings could linger long after I left. This book, then, is an ode to the spirit of exploring, understanding, and reflecting, which I hope to share with you in the pages ahead!
