Here you will write an annotation about the location named in the post’s title, according to the following guidelines:

Guidelines: For each post, you will choose a location featured in your travel narrative. You will then answer two factual questions to the best of your ability (some locations or narratives may not include all of this information):

  • What kinds of things does the author describe there? Is (s)he focused on the buildings, the culture, the people, the environment?
  • What do we learn about the practical or physical aspects of the traveler’s journey (food, lodging, weather, terrain)? When did they arrive, and how long did they stay?

Once you have summarized the factual information about the traveler’s stay, you must also interpret these facts in some way that is interesting to you. Example questions might be:

  • What might we assume about the traveler’s own culture based on the observations noted here?
  • What aspects of this location, or this description of the location, are particularly unusual to you as a modern reader? Which are unusual to the medieval traveler? Are these the same?
  • What do you think is the writer’s purpose in recording this information? To whom is s(he) writing?

You should not attempt to answer all of these questions, and you do not have to choose any of them. The point of this assignment is to move from facts to an interpretation of the facts. What do you find particularly interesting or significant about this stop on the traveler’s journey?