[Search Book 04] • Tracking Marco Polo

Marco Polo was one of the greatest explorers of all time. After the best-selling The Brendan Voyage and The Sinbad Voyage, Tim Severin took up the challenge of following in his footsteps. Using the great explorer’s journals as a route guide, Severin followed him all the way from Venice to Afghanistan — on a motorbike. This is his witty and enthralling account of a latter-day caravan through Armenia and Persia, across deserts and mountains, as Severin and his companions overcome crashes, floods, sandstorms and linguistic muddles with zest and ingenuity. Ancient and modern jostle for attention in the bustling towns and panoramic landscapes of Turkey and Afghanistan. Seeking out thirteenth-century Asia, they pass through the Valley of the Assassins to find the village of the Magi. And even with his foot in plaster, Severin takes a camel ride high into the Deh Bakri Pass in search of the famed ‘apples of paradise’. The excitement, the discomfort, and the sheer magic of this epic journey are brought vividly to life by one of Britain’s finest travel writers. Travel alongside Tim Severin as he goes ‘Tracking Marco Polo’. “A diverting boys’-adventure-story-cum-travelogue to which the gradual disintegration of the grossly abused motorcycles adds suspense.” – New York Times Tim Severin is an explorer, film-maker and lecturer, who has made many expeditions, from crossing the Atlantic in a medieval leather boat to going out in search of Moby Dick and Robinson Crusoe. He has won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, the Book of the Sea Award, a Christopher Prize, and the literary medal of the Academie de la Marine. He books include ‘The Sindbad Voyage’, ‘The Brendan Voyage’, ‘The Jason Voyage’ and ‘The Ulysses Voyage’.