a blog about travel literature
Why does too much often mean too little?
In the early 1990s, Nadine Hudson from Switzerland is struggling with mental health issues, most notably an eating disorder. She decides to embark on a backpacking trip through Asia…
A sophisticated mind.
In 1953, Swiss law student Nicolas Bouvier and his friend, the painter Thierry Vernet, decide to go on a road trip to Afghanistan…
Not personal enough.
In the late 1990s, French manager Philippe Valéry is in his thirties when he decides to walk from Marseille to Kashgar…
The modern traveler.
In 1946, Heinz Helfgen, a former journalist from Germany turned Wehrmacht soldier comes from a POW camp, only to find out that things are pretty bad at home, especially money-wise…
A contemplative story.
In the late 1990s, UK-based Chinese writer Sun Shuyun returns to China, driven by stories told to her by her grandmother, a devout Buddhist…
The real Baudolino.
In the 14th century, English knight Jean de Mandeville claims to have traveled around much of the known (and unknown) world…
Looking for the weird?
In 1994, British travel writer Stanley Stewart starts off in Shanghai and travels overland through China, making it all the way to Xinjiang and into Pakistan…
A wagging finger.
In 1325, young Moroccan scholar Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta embarks on his hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. But he doesn’t stop there…
A (medieval) average Joe.
In 1394, Johann Schiltberger is still a teenager when he embarks on what historians have later dubbed the “Last Crusade”. He gets captured in the Battle of Nicopolis and serves as a slave to the Ottomans for six years…
Clogged up freshness.
In 1537, shortly after the European discoveries in the Americas, young Fernão Mendes Pinto from Portugal gets on a ship to the East…