About Mamdouh
I’m an Egyptian/ British architect, Islamic architecture historian, and travel writer. I realized that I was addicted to travel from a relatively young age, so after exploring the off -the -beaten - track regions in Egypt, I started to travel abroad. My passion to travel inspired me to study architecture and to specialize in traditional and Islamic architecture and urbanism. In general I’m interested in the culture, architecture and arts of the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent.
As I enjoy writing, in addition to my academic research, I published four travel books in English:
1- Did you try Qat?, 2012 About my travels in several countries (Malaysia, Italy, Tunisia, Sri Lanka, Jordan, and Yemen)
2- Spaghetti in Harar, 2014, About my travels in several countries (Lebanon, Germany, South Africa, UAE, France, Syria, and Turkey)
3- From Cairo to Tel Aviv, 2015 About my travels to Israel and the Palestinian Territories
4- Namaste, 2019 About my travels to India By the beginning of 2016, I had my first experience in writing in Arabic, where I wrote a slightly different version of, “From Cairo to Tel Aviv”. In that book I recalled my journey in the Holy Land, where I visited Jerusalem, al Khalil, Bethlehem, Acre and Jaffa.
My wanderings are woven by long conversations with Palestinians living under different circumstances, some are funny, some are heartbreaking and others are simply intriguing. In addition to my travel books, my first novel was published in Arabic in 2021, “Ayyam Yasmine”, which is a social drama recalling memories and incidents in the life of a middle-class Egyptian woman. Currently, I'm working on a number of projects and looking forward to my next trip.
