Club Members Bonus Material: Marco Polo's Elton John moment and Kublai Khan's giant jade wine bowl
Stories that didn't make the main episode, an insider's travel guide to Beijing and Hangzhou, and a reading list for Marco Polo's 17 Year Journey in China: Reality vs Fiction
In this edition
The extraordinary story we cut from the episode about what allegedly happened when the Polos came home
Travel notes from Sarah on following in Marco Polo’s footsteps in Beijing and Hangzhou today
A reading and viewing list for all things Marco
A major new book about Venice and the Mongols tells us about the real Marco Polo, and our interview with Professor Nicola Di Cosmo (out now!)
Full Episode Transcript
Research Notes
The Homecoming Marco Polo Didn’t Tell You About
As almost always happens, we had to cut a cool story from the episode. Time is a cruel mistress, especially when it comes to editing a podcast.
The story is not from the Travels of Marco Polo, but instead is attributed to a Venetian scholar and geographer named Giovanni Battista Ramusio. Keep in mind that Ramusio is writing this story about 250 years after Marco returned to Venice, so, like many things Marco, it’s wise to take the literal truth of Ramusio’s account with a bit of the old kippered herring.
