The Arabs of the sea

Galaxia Gutenberg, 2009

“…Esteva has reconstructed for Altair/Península the fascinating stories of the Arab seafarers, heirs to the legend of Sinbad, builders with their sailing ships of an ancient network of civilization on the Indian Ocean route. And in its pages, he gives voice to old captains of a route that disappeared forty years ago, scattered across ghost towns and sleepy ports of Yemen or Oman, of Mombasa, Lamu, or Zanzibar…”

“…This is his vocation: to seek out worlds that are vanishing, the voice of the elders, to recover their memory before it is extinguished forever: “I don’t care if what they say is true or not, what matters is how they explain their myths, how they write history in their own way…”

Josep Massot, La Vanguardia

“Moved by a childhood longing to find the Arab seafarers, those sailors embodied by Sinbad, the writer and photographer Jordi Esteva, (Barcelona, ??1951), traveled to the coast of Sudan. However, all he found there were a few remains of that dream world, the world of those courageous sailors who left the coast of Arabia in their dhows and sailed across the Indian Ocean dominating the commercial routes while experiencing a series of exciting adventures. However, he did not give up his dream.
Years later he made another voyage to visit the vanishing ports that the Arabian seafarers founded in the Indian Ocean in the hope that he might learn more about them. I have visited legendary places such as Zanzibar, Muscat, Socotra and the coast of the Zanj people, I spoke to old fishermen and made the most extravagant friends. The narration of his travels, that have a Monfreidian aura about them, conforms this book which combines the nostalgic and the adventurous, probably the best of its genre ever written in Spanish.”

Jacinto Antón, Babelia/El País

“The publication of such an extraordinary travel book by a Spanish author, already in its second edition, is excellent news. Jordi Esteva, fascinated in his childhood by the adventures of Sinbad, resisted the current stereotype that Arabs are landlocked people. He invites us on a journey through the ports of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, speaking with elderly locals who share stories that take us back to maritime routes even older than Islam, and to a wisdom in the art of navigation and forging a path at sea that is truly captivating.”

Qué Leer

“…Distinctive, sophisticated, and captivating. Probably the best contemporary travelogue published this year in our country by one of our authors… Esteva displays, without being overbearing, almost perfect writing and a broad knowledge of the Arab world and culture…”

Pilar Rubio, Siete Leguas (El Mundo)