Letters from Elsewhere

Journeys through heat, history and healing

Author

Perspective Media
August 10, 2025

LETTER FROM CÓRDOBA
Moorish ghosts
BY NICK HUNT

Córdoba Great Mosque, or Mezquita Cathedral and the Roman Bridge

Nick Hunt arrives in Spain's hottest city during an unprecedented heatwave, seeking inspiration for a novel about Córdoba's Islamic Golden Age past. As he navigates the labyrinthine streets and hides from the tyrannical sun, fragments of the ancient Caliphate of Qurṭubah emerge through the sweat and delirium, revealing a city where Moorish ghosts still haunt every corner.

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I glimpsed Moorish Qurṭubah like fragments of a broken tile, piecing it together through dazed hours of wandering

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LETTER FROM VIENNA
Viennese whirl
BY KIRSTY LANG

Kirsty Lang returns to Vienna after three decades to find the Habsburg Miss Havisham she once knew transformed into one of the world's most liveable cities. From rainbow-flagged trams to rock bands made of rubbish collectors, she discovers how Red Vienna became a progressive beacon, though worms still wriggle beneath the shiny cobblestones.

www.perspectivemedia.com/viennese-whirl

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Coffeehouses in Vienna are seen as an extension of people’s living rooms. You can spend hours there each day with little pressure to move on

LETTER FROM NAPFLIO
Road trip with Apollo
BY PHOEBE GREENWOOD

Phoebe Greenwood embarks on an emotional journey through Greece with an unusual travel companion: two bags of her deceased therapist’s ashes in a wooden box. Heading to the mythic landscapes around Nafplio, she seeks the perfect resting place while grappling with ancient stories of rage, revenge, and the symbolic murders that free us from having to commit real ones.

www.perspectivemedia.com/road-trip-with-apollo

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Murder, according to Sara, should always be done symbolically. This is the whole point of myth

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