The Liquid Continent : Travels through Alexandria, Venice and Istanbul (Paperback)

Combining travel narrative, history and reflection on contemporary Mediterranean life, Woodsworth finds an intimacy, a garrulous warmth and a near-tribal sociability that belongs uniquely to the cities on the fringe of the Mediterranean. This sea should not be seen as an empty space surrounded by Europe, Asia and Africa, but as a single entity, a place from whose coastlines people look not outwards, to this country or that capital, but inwards over the water to each other.
Setting out from Alexandria on a journey marked by lively, unpredictable encounters, Nicholas Woodsworth discovers traces of an older, more sophisticated existence and asks what these vibrant, cosmopolitan cities and their inhabitants owe to the sea. This omnibus edition brings together Nicholas Woodsworth's critically acclaimed Mediterranean trilogy into a single volume for the first time, allowing readers to fully appreciate the scope of Woodsworth's search for a distinctively Mediterranean "cosmopolitanism." Combining travel narrative, history, and reflection on contemporary lives and cultures, Woodsworth finds an intimacy, a garrulous warmth, and an extraordinary sociability as he travels from Alexandria through Venice and finally installs himself in a former Benedictine monastery in Istanbul overlooking the Golden Horn. Responding to this experience, he argues that the sea should not be seen as an empty space surrounded by Europe, Asia, and Africa, but rather as a single entity, a place from whose coastlines people look inwards over the water to each other--for it has its own cities, its own life, its own way of being.