The world is small. I travelled to a marvellous, newly refurbished golf hotel near Girona, met a young family-oriented golf crowd, kids in tow, at this most popular of all golf courts in Spain – the PGA Catalunya Resort Hotel Camiral – and what stands high-above in the book shelves of Camiral? An intriguing photo and illustration book of Zanzibar…

For those who know Zanzibar, the illustration (above) from the book „Zanzibar – carnets de voyage“ immediately rings a bell – these are men reading newspapers in front of a kiosk, a much-loved activity in Zanzibar where no local english press is allowed since the takeover of Tansania in 1964. In my own book From Sansibar with Love I write about this chapter, sorry,  in German:

… dass Sansibar überhaupt das
erste Land Afrikas war, dass 1974 auf Farbfernsehen umschaltete. Ob er
denn immer noch Kommunist ist, will ich wissen. Da lacht Mitawi (ein wichtiger Funktionär im Kommunkaionswesen), der sich in seiner Jugend einer »engen Verbindung zur FDJ« rühmte, und sagt: »Ich war nie Kommunist,sondern Sozialdemokrat.« Warum es keine Pressefreiheit gibt auf Sansibar, und keine lokalen
Zeitungen, kann er sogar ganz anschaulich begründen: »Jeder wollte
sein Süppchen kochen: Die Araber kämpften seit dem Ende der Sklaverei
für eine Entschädigung für das, was sie als Verdienstausfall betrachteten,
die Inder um ihr Business, die Afrikaner um mehr Rechte.
Und jeder hatte seine eigene Zeitung; Sansibar und seine Medien waren
entlang ethnischer Linien getrennt. Heute gibt es nur noch einen
Sender in einer Sprache – das einigt die Leute. Keiner braucht sich
mehr minderwertig fühlen, alle sind gleich.« Dann lehnt er sich zurück
und lächelt: »Es gibt Leute, die dies nicht als Fortschritt sehen, wir aber
schon.«

I discover the other „Zanzibar“ book written by three French globetrotters in 2000 (see photo below) at Hotel Camiral near Costa Brava. No wonder, I was taken by this beautiful hotel immediately. Moreover because of its stunning interior design by Spains interior architect icon Lazaro Rosa Violán (see more on that under travel tips).

Too beautiful for the shelf: „Zanzibar – Carnets de Voyage“, by writer-photographer-illustrator trio Justin Creedy Smith, Elsie und Damien Chavanat, Seuil Verlag, 2000, Paris. I did not know this most lovely book, layouted like a private collage, maybe because it was published in France. But I discovered many all too familiar faces and locations in there …

Building bridges: Medieval city of 120.000, Girona near Barcelona – centre of gourmet chefs in Spains and well worth a visit. In the golf Hotel Camiral near Girona I discovered the book about Zanzibar

Good friend, wonderful sketch book painter, historian and custodian of Zanzibar’s architectural heritage: the late John Baptist da Silva captured in the „Zanzibar“ book – he also talks about the shameful time here when it was not allowed to take photos of the old Stone Town

One of the teahouses in the book – now this particular one, which caught the managination of many visitors, is finally undergoing restoration under the umbrella of the Upendo foundation

Also in the drawing book „Zanzibar“: Our very own bedroom – of Malu and me in my third year in Zanzibar (on the right); formerly owned by Tom Skeens, one of the two Emerson partners

Hold your breath: spring in Europe, the Hotel Camiral in May 2017 near Girona, an oasis of calm, only an hour away from the noise of Barcelona

Idyllic and renaturated: waterways in Girona

 And here your way to the Hotel Camiral on fb and to my book From Sansibar with Love