Their families had not been forced out of Crete by drought but by their neighbours
Their families had not been forced out of Crete by drought but by their neighbours. After the late 19th century Cretan civil war was won by the Christians, all the Muslim islanders (between a third and half of the population) were either massacred or driven out.Some settled at Kusadasi in Turkey but many accepted the safe sanctuary offered by Libya. With a smile, one old man told me that there is no difference between them and other Libyans "except that we are better fishermen".The easiest way to see Cyrenaica is on a guided tour. Specialist companies include Martin Randall Travel (020-8742 3355), Steppes East (01285 651010), Andante (01980 610555) and Eastern Approaches (01578 730361).For independent travellers, there are regular direct flights from the UK to Tripoli.
Booking though a specialist travel agent such as Arab Tours (60 Marylebone Lane, London W1M 5FF, 020-7935 3273), will smooth the process of acquiring a Libyan tourist visa. It was -24C in Moscow: stay-indoors temperature by anyone's standards, particularly a Brit in inappropriate clothing. Having struggled in countless layers along icy pavements, my feet were frozen stumps and my nostrils were full of ice. Just as I was beginning to see why Russians have no moral qualms about wearing fur, we reached the entrance to a featureless building It was time to come in from the cold.
It was -24C in Moscow: stay-indoors temperature by anyone's standards, particularly a Brit in inappropriate clothing. Having struggled in countless layers along icy pavements, my feet were frozen stumps and my nostrils were full of ice. Just as I was beginning to see why Russians have no moral qualms about wearing fur, we reached the entrance to a featureless building. It was time to come in from the cold. In a gloomy hallway, I was greeted with a forced smile and a firm handshake by a man in pinstripes. He marched us up a staircase and refused point-blank to give his name No doubt if he had, he would have had to kill us. Why? Because he was an officer of the KGB, - sorry, Federal Security Service - and he was taking time out from his duties as a post-Communist secret policeman to show me and other curious tourists around Moscow's Museum of the Intelligence Service. Tour information, including names, was on a strictly need-to-know basis.A few years ago, a tourist wouldn't have made it past the front door.