Published

(author, photographs as credited)
'Home to seven World Heritage sites and a diverse landscape - including pristine Adriatic coastlines - Croatia has something in store for the history buff, luxury-seeker, and every traveller in between. National Geographic Traveler: Croatia leads you through the country's hot-spots and lesser-known, but nonetheless enticing destinations. This guide, written by former Zagreb resident and hiking enthusiast Rudolf Abraham, includes special sidebar features detailing experiences throughout the country to help you delve further into the culture. An extensive Travelwise section provides hotels, restaurants, and tour recommendations hand-picked by the author, as well as a glossary that covers must-know words.'

(author, photographs, maps)
Mountain walking and trekking guide to Croatia, with walks in the Dinaric Alps (Gorski kotar, Velebit, Mosor, Biokovo), Istria, Slavonia, around Zagreb and on the coast and islands (Peljesac, Korcula, Mljet, Hvar, Brac, Losinj and Cres). 26 routes (nine new walks in this edition, plus extended information on further exploration in Gorski kotor, Velebit etc) from easy day walks to treks and via ferrata over varied terrain. Includes full background information and hut directory. ...click here to read more about this book

(author, photographs, maps)
The Torres del Paine Circuit is one of the world’s truly great treks, an epic, ten day journey through magnificent, ever–changing and quite unforgettable mountain scenery. With its iconic granite spires and vast, fractured glaciers spilling out from the largest sheet of ice in the southern hemisphere outside Antarctica, Torres del Paine is Chile’s premier national park. This comprehensive guide to trekking in the region combines detailed route descriptions with full background and planning information, including wildlife, history, travel to and within Chile, and accommodation and other details for Puerto Natales, Punta Arenas and Santiago. Includes section on the Fitzroy area of Los Glaciares national park in Argentina. ...click here to read more about this book

(author, photographs, maps)
Winner 'Best Guidebook' award, Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild Awards for Excellence, 2008 (sponsored by Aquapac International)
The mountains of Montenegro are some of the wildest, most spectacular, and least visited in Europe. Nevertheless they are easily accessible, and many areas have well-marked trails. They present an opportunity to travel through outstandingly beautiful and remarkably unspoilt natural scenery, which as yet sees few visitors. The Mountains of Montenegro is the first comprehensive English-language guide to walking in this beautiful area, written by an author who has visited the country over a number of years and has lived in neighbouring Croatia. ...click here to read more about this book

(author, photographs, maps)
Rising suddenly and spectacularly beyond the narrow ribbon of coastal cities and rocky beaches, the mountains of Croatia have much to commend them as a walking destination. Ranging from gently sloping, forested hills to rugged tops and limestone crags, and reaching its most spectacular in the massifs, collectively known as the Dinaric Alps, it is a wilderness of magnificent grandeur, rich in wildlife and plants. ...click here to read more about this book

In Progress

Northumberland's Long Distance Trails - St Oswald's Way, St Cuthbert's Way and the Northumberland Coast Path (Cicerone Press, 2012)
(author, photographs)

Trekking in Arctic Norway (Cicerone Press, 2013)
(author, photographs, maps)

The Faroe Islands (Cicerone Press, 2013)
(author, photographs)

Croatia: Island Walks (Cicerone Press, 2014)
(author, photographs)

Trekking in Eastern Turkey (Cicerone Press, 2014)
(author, photographs, maps)

Contributing Author / Photographer

Transylvania. The Bradt Travel Guide (2nd edition; Bradt, 2012)
(updates)

Turkey (DK Eyewitness, 2011)
(updates for eastern Turkey)

Ultimate Food Journeys (DK Eyewitness, 2011)
(contributor; photographs as credited)

'DK's ultimate gastronomic tour of the globe reveals the origins of the world's most famous dishes and the best places to eat them... Search by time of year, type of vacation, type of food or simply flick through the pages and be inspired.'

Time Out Croatia Visitors' Guide (Time Out Croatia, 2011)
(updates; contributor; photographs as credited)

'Combining hundreds of independent reviews of where to eat, drink and sleep in all major Croatian cities and islands with more than 100 pages of beautifully photographed features... From hiking under waterfalls to dancing on the beach, from sleepy wine trails to the finest fish, from contemporary art openings to Roman history.'

Ljubljana (Thomas Cook, 2011)
(updates; photographs as credited)

'This vibrant series of pocket guides covers over 170 destinations worldwide and are compact, practical guides for sun seekers and city breakers. The Thomas Cook pocket guides series is also home to the most comprehensive list of UK city guides currently available.'

Croatia. The Bradt Travel Guide (4th edition; Bradt, 2010)
(updates, photographs as credited)

'Highly recommended…. Very detailed guide provides information for all types of travellers, from holidaymakers to backpackers, families to lone travellers.' (www.visit-croatia.co.uk)


'Excellent guide, informative and easy to use' (Amazon.co.uk)

The Road Less Travelled (DK Eyewitness, 2009)
(contributor)

A guide to the world's unspoilt sights and experiences - 1,000 fresh and fascinating alternatives to hundreds of well-known tourist destinations and sights, written by a team of travel experts and with a foreword by Bill Bryson. 'A book to keep by the bedside to fuel your dreams.' (The Mail on Sunday, September 2009)

The Arts of Islam: Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection (Thames & Hudson, 2010)
(contributor)

'This magnificent publication presents nearly 500 masterpieces from the Khalili Collection, the largest and finest privately owned collection of Islamic art in the world.... With texts by an international team of experts and specialists, and accompanied by over 650 colour illustrations, this volume is an inspiring and scholarly celebration of the masterpieces of the arts of Islam.'

J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam: Treasures from the Nasser D Khalili Collection (exhibition catalogue, Institut du monde arabe, Paris 2009; Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi 2008; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 2007)
(contributor; additional editing)

Visions of Splendour in Islamic Art and Culture (Khalili Family Trust/Worth Press, 2008)
(text contributions and research; photographs as credited)

Art et Culture de l’Islam (Solar, 2006)
(text contributions and research; photographs as credited)

Du VIIe siècle à nos jours, de l'Espagne au Kazakhstan en passant par le Yémen, la Syrie et l'Inde, un panorama complet de l'art et de la culture de l'Islam. Cet ouvrage déroule la passionnante chronologie de l'histoire de l'art islamique. Il invite à découvrir les sites culturels majeurs, ainsi que les grandes dynasties qui ont marqué la civilisation de l'Islam. Un ensemble de 800 photographies témoigne ainsi du foisonnement culturel et artistique de quatorze siècles d'histoire....

Islamic Art and Culture. A Visual History (Overlook Press, 2006)
(text contributions and research; photographs as credited)

The Timeline History of Islamic Art and Architecture (Worth Press, 2005)
(text contributions and research; photographs as credited)

B. Abraham, Worcester - A History and Celebration (Ottakar’s, 2004)
(photographs as credited)

C.E. Yate, Northern Afghanistan (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2003)
(introduction)

Robert Curzon, Armenia: A Year at Erzeroom and on the Frontiers of Russia, Turkey and Persia (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2003)
(introduction)

(introduction)
One morning in the spring of 1863, in a dusty caravanserai in the city of Tehran, a certain Hadji Reshid—ostensibly a dervish from Rum (Turkey) who was journeying eastwards in search of enlightenment—joined a caravan of pilgrims returning from Mecca; and furnished with only a pilgrim’s staff, a beggar’s bowl, a few rags of clothing and a small bag of silver coin, set off across the hungry wastes of Central Asia to Khiva, Bukhara and Samarqand. ...click here to read more about this book

Monuments and Memorials: Carvings and Tilework from the Islamic World (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art VOL XXIV) (The Nour Foundation, not yet published)
(contributor)

Rival to China: Later Islamic Pottery (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art VOL X) (The Nour Foundation, not yet published)
(contributor)

Recent Articles

Hidden Europe

Mile Vranesic sits below a shelf laden with religious icons, framed certificates and wooden folk art, mouth slightly open as he pauses mid-sentence, and examines me from beneath brooding eyebrows through a plume of cigarette smoke. Old bottles filled with homemade rakija stand on the heavy wooden table before him, and the dark walls are cluttered with densely-hung pictures — plaques and certificates, local heraldry, and an old, faded photograph which shows an enormous cross being carried uphill by a procession of villagers. ...click here to read more of this article

The villages of Lonjsko polje — Cigoc, Krapje, Lonja and others — stretch along the left bank of the Sava as it sweeps east towards its distant rendezvous with the Danube below the fortress of Kalemegdan in Belgrade. A narrow winding road separates the river from the neat rows of wooden houses, some of them over two hundred years old and representative of a style of architecture now lost in much of Croatia. ...click here to read more of this article

Seated on a worn and silvery metal bench, on a quiet tree-lined terrace in Zagreb’s Gornji grad (Upper Town), a lone figure gazes out over the red-tiled roofs and Secessionist facades of the city below. He sits, evidently lost in thought, his arms flung languidly across the back of the bench. The man is seemingly quite untroubled by the traces of graffiti on his chest and legs. Sometimes a passer-by joins him on his bench, perhaps leaning against him or slinging an arm loosely around his silvery neck, and on such occasions it is not always entirely clear who is keeping whom company.... ...click here to read more of this article

The Croatian village of Jovici sits above the western shore of the Velebit Channel - that long natural waterway which separates the Dalmatian islands of Krk, Rab and Pag from the nearby mainland. Jovici is about twenty kilometres as the crow flies northeast of the city of Zadar, on a finger of the mainland that pokes up towards the island of Pag. Holidaymakers and delivery vans speed north towards Pag, and Jovici hardly catches the eye: a single shop, a small church, a scattering of houses among fields of shattered rock, with a sublime view over the water to the mountains of southern Velebit beyond. Yet scratch beneath the surface and, like so many places on the map, this small village and its surroundings are found to hold many hidden histories.... ...click here to read more of this article

Angoulême hosts its enormous comic strip festival, called the Festival International de la Bande Dessinée, in late January each year. It is an event which regularly pulls close to a quarter of a million visitors to the city on the Charente river. Large marquees swarm with avid fans; there are performances, interviews and exhibitions; and artists sign and dedicate endless copies of their books... ...click here to read more of this article

Early one morning in the summer of 1908, a small party left the village of Thethi in northern Albania. And, having floundered through the waist-deep snow which still choked the Qafa e Peje or Cafa Pes, the travellers descended into the Ropojana valley, in what is now Montenegro. ...click here to read more of this article

Winner 'Best Outdoor Feature' award, Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild Awards for Excellence, 2009 (sponsored by Crimson Publishing)
Velebit, we are told in the words of an old Croatian folk song, is the haunt of fairies. It is a strangely beautiful place, its wind-scoured heights characterized by areas of bizarrely sculpted and weathered rock, studded with thickets of dwarf mountain pine, and pierced by some of the deepest sinkholes in the world. In winter, it is transformed into a snowbound landscape like something out of a painting by Caspar David Friedrich. Wild, eerie, fractured and disjointed. ...click here to read more of this article

Few are the visitors who probe Montenegro’s mountainous border with northern Albania. It is a fascinating and remote area, a spectacular landscape of isolated valleys and fang-like peaks, with a long and compelling history. Lying at the headwaters of the River Tara and the River Lim, and marching with the narrow finger of territory which forms the northern tip of Albania, this area constitutes one of the wildest remaining corners of Europe. ...click here to read more of this article

BBC Countryfile

'Discover Northumberland's Winter Wildlife' (January 2010)
'Mt Caburn to Firle Beacon' (January 2010)
'Waltham Abbey and the River Lea' (December 2009)
'The Long Man of Wilmington' (October 2009)

CNN Traveller

Istria. Forests of Gold (November/December 2010)
Dubrovnik city guide (May/June 2010)
10 City Breaks for Winter - Zagreb (November/December 2009)

Discover Britain (formerly Heritage)

Belsay Hall Castle and Gardens (October 2011)
Stirling Castle (June 2011)

France

Angouleme and the art of BD (January 2012)

OE

Croatia. Mountain walks and island trails (September 2011)
Magic of Montenegro (September 2010)

Outdoor Focus

'Portfolio' (Summer 2009)

Real Travel

'Northumberland Coast' (November 2011)
'Velebit' (October 2011)

Silversea Cruises

'Adventures in Patagonia' (June 2009)

Wanderlust

'Travel Icon: Torres del Paine' (October 2009)
'Durmitor and Boka Kotorska. A Coast and Countryside Weekend in Montenegro' (June 2009)

Canvas

‘Mughal Jewellery’ (March 2009)
‘Islamic Metalwork’ (January 2009)
‘Lacquer of the Islamic Lands’ (November 2008)
‘Pictorial Chronicles’ (September 2008)
‘Carpets from the Khalili Collection’ (July 2008)

Writing for the web / apps

Vertu Select

'Biosphere Expeditions and the Slovakian Carpathians' (February 2012)
'The Lofoten Islands' (September 2011)
'A Cultural Tour of Ljubljana' (July 2011)
'The Faroe Islands' (June 2011)
'Torres del Paine national park' (May 2011)
'Korcula: Wine and Sword Dances' (March 2011)
'Istanbul architecture' (February 2011)
'Half the World: Architecture in Isfahan' (February 2011)

BBC Countryfile

'Country pubs' (December 2009)

World Travel Guide

Croatia Travel Guide (July 2011)
Santiago City Guide (November 2009)