Why do we travel? Could be any reason.. to do business, to may be run away or search for something…to just get lost in unknown cities or in self where nobody knows you. There was this venetian traveller in 13th century Marco Polo who came to china and eastern parts for business and found more perilous but exotic experience on the silk road.
Escaping from the Kublai khan and Mongols he came to find Venice in war with Genoa and was imprisoned.
Sometimes it is hard to distinguish which is prison and which is home. In prison, he narrated his whole experience to another prisoner. This narration later on became very famous. It was the first outlook in written format towards China & India for the Europeans. It even inspired Columbus and others to explore..
Though later he became a very rich merchant in Venice and in present times has an airport named after him. How it must have felt to be imprisoned at home. Venice today has many graffiti filled walls, among those I found this one very intriguing. Guy in gondola makes me question why we travel away from home to return back?
