Marseilles

The thing I like most about this trip is the variety. On Saturday I attended a chariot race at the hippodrome in Jerash. On Sunday I felt the fresh sea breeze on a boat from Marseilles to the Chateau d'If, the prison island that no one ever escaped from except the fictional Count of Monte Cristo. On Monday I watched a couple of justifiably ornery bulls being unloaded at the amphitheatre in Arles in preparation for the bullfight that evening.

The connections can be just as interesting as the contrasts. After Jordan I find myself staying in the Arab quarter in Marseilles. I've been able to compare the Roman theatre in Arles with the ones I visited in Amman, Petra and Jerash. The bleak prison cells at the Chateau d'If remind me of the ones I saw last week at Kerak Castle and the week before at the Tower of London, where the saddest prisoners are the ravens that have their wings clipped so they can't fly away.

My favourite birds are the swifts I watched soaring and swooping at lightning speed perilously close to a tower in Milan. It wasn't just a brilliant acrobatic display. It was a celebration of joy and freedom.