“There hasn't been a lot written about it in the Western media. But in the Arab world, and Western Asia as a whole, Baghdad was always known as a famously bookish, intellectual city. There's an old saying that Cairo writes, Beirut publishes, and Baghdad reads.” WorldWritingWholeCitiesKnownWrittenMediaIntellectualWesternAsiaPublishBaghdadOld SayingArab WorldBeirutCairoWestern Media Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“There were a hundred booksellers in the old round city founded by the eighth-century caliph al-Mansur. The café and wine-drinking culture of Baghdad has been famous for centuries; there was a whole school of Iraqi poets who wrote poems about the wine bars of medieval Baghdad - the khamriyaat, or wine songs, that I quote in the book.” Has BeensBookWholeSchoolSongCultureCitiesCenturyPoetHundredWineDrinkingRoundsBarsAlsMedievalBaghdadDrinking WineCaliphsBooksellers Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“Pedro Teixeira, the great Portuguese merchant-adventurer, wrote a beautiful description of a coffeehouse with windows overlooking the Tigris and the ruins of old Baghdad. That was in 1604, and he's visiting the same street that I write about in the book, named after Abu Nuwas, though it wasn't called that back then.” WritingBookBeautifulStreetsWindowRuinsDescriptionVisitingMerchantsAdventurerBaghdadPortugueseOverlooking Author:Annia Ciezadlo
