Marco Polo

Come, all who wish to know the world beyond their own 'for ye shall find therein all kinds of wonderful things'.

For Marco Polo, the world was a place of incredible possibility. An astute observer and gifted storyteller, he brought to life the great empires and extraordinary peoples of Asia, leaving behind a legacy that would shape Europe's imagination of the wider world for centuries. Drawing on new source material and exciting discoveries, including recently available translations from Chinese and Mongolian sources, Philip Freeman retraces Marco Polo's footsteps as recorded during his Travels and other medieval sources.

Travelling by train, jeep and camel, Freeman takes the reader from Venice to Jerusalem, the Middle East, the mountains of Central Asia, and the deserts of China, completing the journey by sailing as Marco did from China back to Italy by way of Vietnam, Sumatra, and India. We explore the story of Marco's boyhood in Venice, his travels across Asia as a teenager, his adventures at the court of the great Kublai Khan, and his long voyage home to Italy.

Marco Polo's invitation stands true today: follow is his footsteps into the unknown, journey beyond the familiar and discover, with Philip Freeman, the wonders of a world long since lost.