Retracing The Incredible Journey Of Marco Polo | Marco Polo Reloaded Part 1

[Music] go traveling is his profession Bradley Mayu writes tourist guides mostly about Asia this time he is working on a very special project an adventure an experiment he ret trvs a route taken by a Merchant from Venice more than 750 years [Music] ago he is happy with any transport he can get always East along the great Silk Road through remote mountain ranges inhospitable deserts and ancient cities Bradley Mayu follows the route of Marco Polo from Venice to Beijing through countries such as Iran and Afghanistan 10,000 km over land a journey as great an adventure today as in Marco Polo's [Music] time not the worst time of year to make a trip to Venice Carnival is when the venetians really let their hair down the costumes and the the mass are so colorful they give you a real exotic feel of what the city was like in its Heyday when the Silk Road trade connected Venice to China and this was the place to be in the world it's also a great place for takeing from here in 1271 a young son of a merchant embarked on a journey that would eventually pass into Legend Bradley is looking for traces of the golden age of Venice when families like the polos traded in silk spices and precious stones which were transported by Caravans along the Silk [Music] Road it was this long-distance trade that made venice's fortunes Luca zenin publisher and antiquarian collects original sources is about the 13th century the time of Marco Polo all over the Mediterranean all over from from constan from from yes Constantinople and Venice was the biggest Market in of the time Venice became the biggest empire of of of the medial age it's incredibly because this small town became something with few people medieval Venice is well documented but not much is known about Marco Polo preserved for posterity is his book the description of his travels it exists in more than 100 versions some of them are richly adorned while from others only fragments exist take this book and have it read and here you will find all the greatest Marvels and the great diversities that's nice it's it's really amazing you know how how young m Polo was when he set off he was only about 17 years old almost the same age as when people leave school these days you know so it's a he came back and wrote this incredible book with all this geographical knowledge that inspired everyone from you know Columbus took a copy of Marco Polo's travels with him when he was headed to the to the West so it's an amazing impact this this one man has had I'm sure this is the book you would like to read and then the antiquarian comes up with something quite this is the this is the your version yeah I've been I've been trying to find this for the longest time an annotated edition of the travels of Marco Polo by Henry y fantastic dating from the year 1871 that's great thank you very much l reading this along the road you're welcome have a nice thanks byee [Music] byebye I first read Marco Po's book uh when I was studying at University and it you know it really really epitomized the dream of traveling through Asia at that time it had all the wonders of the of the region had all the romance and the color of the Silk Road uh so yeah it really spurred me to want to go and see you know what is it like what's Asia like these days been I've been to a few countries on the road uh but doing them all together in one long trip that's what's exciting you see the gradual change of of cultures and countries from the turkic world to the Persian world to the Chinese world and that's that's going to be really [Music] exciting it must be somewhere here in the quarter of San Giovani Costo the gondolieri know the site where the house of Marco Polo once stood as a child he must have played at the side of this canal his father nicop Polo was constantly traveling abroad he was one of the first Europeans to reach as far as distant China now he wanted to go back and this time his son was to accompany him young Marco didn't have any idea how long this adventure was to last so when the polos finally returned home to this gate after being away for 27 years they were refused entry no one recognized them they were probably wearing long Mongol cloaks big heavy beards they'd aged by almost a quarter of a century and no one really recognized them at some point after his return Marco Polo was taking part in a naval battle against rival Genoa when he was captured it was in prison that he dictated the book that would make him famous and which in Venice gave him a nickname IL milon the millions man the venetians called Marco Polo IL milon because of everything was described in gigantic numbers thousands of armies and soldiers and horses no one really quite believed what he was talking about either way his departure from Venice is historically documented they're made recently or do you also have what would the venetians have worn at the time nobody would know better than Stefano nicolao venice's most famous costume designer is this something traveler during Marco Polo's era would would have warn when he was traveling sure sure he start from Venice with these costumes and they go to the China Bradley wants to know from which material the clothes were made at the time from wool mainly Stefano explains like this coat for instance more of a cape really and very warm open in the front and at the back for ease of riding and on his legs what would he have worn underneath oh for the leg they use like stockings okay right complete UC see uh I see this is the this is like the heel yes the heel and the the lace on the on the belt and the fix just in the side okay so the summer spring winter yeah in the Autumn maybe they have the same costumes the same dresses and they just put over something more yes or take off and rest just in shirt and you know we can start from this it's a about a long shirt okay you can put on then Stefano wants to see what Bradley would look like as Marco Polo this is a much heavier yes and have it something about this hat okay it's very comfortable it moves and flows easily if you're moving or you're on a horse it's yeah it's lovely so how do I look very good you can go to the China now yeah this is I could travel in this it's it's a little bit heavier than my gaex jacket but still for the long travel is good yeah I'll take it okay good luck thank you let's go most likely Marco Polo left Venice in a convoy of trading and War galys today faeries cover the rout across the Eastern Mediterranean Bradley writes mainly travel guide books for the Australian publisher Lonely Planet it's a very strange life you know half the year you're you're traveling and seeing exciting things meeting people it's very intense stimulus and then for four or five months of the year you're at the computer 15 hours a day you don't leave the house you don't see anyone you uh you lose your Sunan you you come out of the the house blinking into the sunlight like a little mole you Bradley Mayu 40 years old British married and living in the USA is a professional traveler but retracing the root of Marco Polo will not be an easy task there are over a 100 different versions of Marco Po's book it would have been copied by hand at that time so a lot of the spellings a lot of the the the root information is slightly different with each version so trying to match up the name that Marco Polo saw on the map the name that's the modern name on the map that that can be pretty tricky I think that's an interesting thing this one piece will make 52 layers watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription required aka the ancient toames founded 4,000 years ago is today located in Israel here the polos stepped onto Asian soil for the first time they came to meet the Pope's representative before continuing on with their Journey Back Then 40,000 people lived in AA whose Center is still the ancient Crusader Castle when Marco arrived in AKO after his long sea Voyage the city was really the last Bastion of Christendom in the Holy Land the crusaders had lost Jerusalem and they were planning to try and retake it so you can imagine that this Citadel would have been full of thousands of Knights dressed in their suits of armor with uh soldiers monks pilgrims visiting royalty and Traders from Pisa Amalfi Venice would have been a very busy driving place and a place under imminent threat the secret Escape Routes are still in place for more than 100 years AA had been the capital of the Christian kingdom in the Holy Land but the Crusaders were not able to hold the Fortified City it fell in 1291 so by the time Marco got here AKO had changed from being the gateway to the Holy Land to being the last Bastion of Christianity here within 20 years of his arrival the mamalu armies were here at the gates they were outnumbered 100 to1 and after a 2mon long Siege it was all over for the Crusaders a today is a sleepy Port Town in the North of Israel close to the border with Lebanon Bradley is looking for a place to stay wed haal has got a vacant room for him okay great one question um I'm trying to find some places that have some connection to Marco Polo when he was here there are Marco Polo Road Street Marco Polo Street yes do you have time to show me that later on wed grew up in AA a city strongly shaped by the close proximity of different religions the line between peaceful coexistence and conflict is a fine one here in the old quarter of town live mostly Arabs Muslims with an Israeli passport but not many civil rights Israeli soldiers are a common sight in the souk [Music] when we've been reading a lot about Marco Polo we've been reading about the 13th century it seems to me that there was much the same situation then there were Holy Wars going on there was fighting battle over the holy land it's almost the same now 2,000 years later if if we go back few thousand you can see all the people in the world try to come to fight and to occupy in this area why I don't know maybe because they are holy land this is all the soldiers are training to be Frontline reporters in the souk they are practicing to take pictures and videos they tell Bradley I'm I'm a photographer also they are taking mostly photos with some video the Army has provided them with simple cameras we have this good enough for training reckons Bradley exactly AA is not a political flasho but for the people who live here the Middle East conflict is part of daily life so you're saying that it's like fighting between two brothers of course they are two brothers fight for one home but they have to come to the end they have to see in the tables this your P of life this is your piece of land sit quiet and that's all if they make a peace and they open the border from Russia nikra in half an hour from AKO to leanon half an hour the first city tour where my sister live you miss your sister you haven't seen her for so long I don't see her since 82 83 I'm sorry to hear that this kind of life her father died in 888 my father Liv me and she couldn't come to visit on this kind of life my friend today modern trains run along the Mediterranean coast of Israel the polos must have traveled here too though in less Comfort on his first journey Marco Polo's father Nicolo Polo had received a special request from the Chinese emperor from here the polos made a quick detour to Jerusalem to run an errand for the great KH pick up some oil from the Church of the Holy separer and that's where we're headed now the holy city bone of contention between religions since time immemorial at Close Quarters lie Christian churches the AL a a mosque and the most sacred place of Judaism The Wailing Wall the Jewish quarter adjoins the Muslim quarter Muslims consider Jerusalem to be Islam's third holiest city after Mecca and Medina last but not least Jerusalem is the place where Jesus Christ was crucified and buried on this exact spot stands the church Church of the Holy Seiler Catholics Protestants cops followers of the Orthodox Churches to all of them this church is sacred in these lamps Burns holy oil symbol of Divine Mercy these lamps contain exactly the kind of oil that the polos came to pick up for Kuan it sanctifies from sins it brings healing to the sick the oil is believed to be holy we're not quite sure why but the polos must have told the Khan about the oil and they oil became a symbol of the Christian faith the Kua Khan was interested in hearing about all the religions from the world so it became a symbol for the polos to bring back some information for the Khan on on Christianity from Jerusalem the polos most likely continued their journey by boat towards turkey today that's impossible Bradley has to come up with a different route the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors makes traveling in this region tricky a lot of the borders are closed North into Syria is closed South to the Gaza Strip is sealed and then with the security checks and the Visa and the Israeli visa stamp issue and your passport you've got to always keep your eye open you got to plan your route and know where you're going in this part of the [Music] world Highway number one in Syria Bradley wants to travel to China Overland like Marco Polo did in his day there are no camel Caravans anymore but there are plenty of clapped out buses they are cheap and noisy but you do get to know your fellow passengers a sponge Trader for example he should buy a sponge for his wife Bradley does not speak Arabic but this much he gets a friend of Bradley has put him in touch with a young man in Syria who will be his travel companion Muhammad Shake nicknamed Santiago Studies English literature he comes from Aleppo uh well in a in a place like Syria where I don't I don't speak the language I can't read Arabic script everything is 10 times more difficult I was lucky to get on a bus going the right direction but luckily I've met up with Santiago now so he's um he's making sure I get to Aleppo in one piece hopefully at least inshah is it far to Ao no no it's not far less than like almost 1 hour or a bit more it's not that the two are heading to one of the most ancient cities in the world a legendary trading center today the largest city in Syria in the heart of the Old Town TOS The Citadel Assyrians Persians Greek later Rome and Byzantium whoever ruled in a Aleppo ruled from here many have left their mark on the Fortified Hill the Islamic sections of the Citadel date from ottoman times today the fort Towers above a metropolis of 2 million [Music] inhabitants [Music] [Music] around 6,000 shops line up along 12 km of roofed Alleyways the bazaar of Aleppo is the longest covered Bazaar in the world see here like the cloth Market is of particular interest to Bradley allowed to buy like have the same product so they s different stuffs many of the Fabrics come from China mostly cheap synthetic Goods as Santiago explains comes from China yeah if you came here 2,000 years ago you you'd find Fabrics from China back then I mean in some ways you know the design is different but in some ways things haven't really changed yes yes very beautiful doesn't come with the color of your VI no I don't think it's quite me but thank you very much so this is where people come to get their everyday yeah every everyday stuff like what they need to eat to wear to like to use at home for cleaning Stu and then you get you get traditional Goods like the soap right next to the the modern Goods you get yeah you see the the the big like comparison like contrast between these two stuffs this is not a place that Marco Polo came to necessarily but this hares carries the flavor of of what the sot Road would have been about but also the silt Road smell everything from the soap to the spices it's this place is really alive and vibrant it's uh it's great this is one of the best soups I've I've ever been to if you come to the Middle East this is the place to come to good for hair good for body for face for everything eight years old 80 star better quality The Secret of Aleppo soap lies in using the correct ratio of Olive and Laurel oil even today it is still manufactured in the Bazar the oils are mixed the soap is boiled and cut when it has solidified faster faster besides soap Aleppo is well known for another luxury product which is also produced directly in the Bazar by Mr Marva Sally rier he said you can do it girls already did it so you man should do it that sounds like a challenge to me yeah I think so on it um I don't know much about silk itself my wife will be the one to ask about silk but I'm interested in in how silk has been become a symbol for the trade on the silk the history side of it is interesting the actual making it like this I know absolutely nothing about but I'm learning very fast yeah silk has been essential to the history of this part of the world for the last 2,000 years or so all the way coming from China it's really one of the main reasons that this International Trade started anyway the Romans really was the Heyday of the old Silk Road the silk came from China and it became so popular in Rome that it was slowly bankrupting the entire Empire they thought it grew on trees like like cotton or something they didn't have a clue and the Chinese didn't want to tell them there was a secret they wanted to definitely keep hold of a trade a trade secret 2,000 years ago you can still find it 2,000 years later I don't think workshops like this have really changed that much since then Bradley wants to keep moving a brief farewell where the Overland taxes leave for the Border [Music] a short drive through the foothills of the aminos mountains then a final road [Music] sign [Music] in Turkey the local buses are called dolm they go to every corner of the country including the place where Bradley is meeting a friend of a [Music] friend hey must be Bradley yeah Yousef yes that's right I was looking forward to see you it's nice to meet you yeah YF siniy is a photographer he lives and works in Istanbul and like Bradley he loves to travel when Marco Polo was here the place was known as lias today it's called yalik and is a quiet town of 5,000 inhabitants Yousef and Bradley have found a boat to take them to a tiny Island bearing the name of Marco Polo coming from Jerusalem the Venetian traveler landed right here in lias at that time lias was the main Port of a Christian Enclave surrounded by Muslim [Music] seljuks the ruins might have been Customs buildings but no one knows exactly what is certain is that at the time of Marco Polo this was the Western most Terminus of the Silk Road Marco Polo writes the merchants of Venice and Genoa and other countries come here to sell their goods and to buy what they lack whatsoever persons would travel to the interior of the East merchants or others they take their way by this city of lias Marco Polo spent several months here most likely preparing for the next leg of his [Music] journey it's not entirely clear which exact route Marco Polo took Bradley and YF thoroughly pour over the maps from lias there are several possible routes leading to the northeast of turkey part of the problem that we have is that some of the places that Marco Polo mentions we can pinpoint he mentions for example like um he mentions sebasti which is the old name y he also mentions ainga which must Bean but some of the names they just don't exist anymore so it's really hard trying to match them up we can also take the short route shortest route through through here I think Marco Polo would have followed the valleys you know it makes sense to follow the Euphrates so maybe we'll try and find a route that connects up through there up to [Music] it is 800 km to the upper Euphrates luxury longdistance coaches are few and far between where the highway ends and the mountains begin Yousef and Bradley don't care they'll take anything they can get if it brings them further east further along the so-called Silk Road the Silk Road is is very much in missoma you know there's not one road there's the whole network and whole thread of different routes that would go all the way across Asia so they would choose whichever route was the best suited for that time for the weather for the season for Bandits robbers you know so uh it's not it's not quite as simple as it [Music] sounds Bradley also has to adapt his routing to the Region's political crisis he has to abandon his plan of traveling via mul in Iraq too dangerous so he chooses a route through Eastern [Music] Turkey working as a guyot writer is is a great job I can't complain about it it's a it's a real addiction that that gets under the skin and I think I could never stop doing this now even if I wasn't working i' I'd still have to travel it's uh it's part of who I am really [Music] the road winds down through the mountains in a side Valley of the Euphrates in the quiet of the countryside lies an ancient [Music] town in 1228 a local Air started construction on the great Mosque of divy it's not the size that makes this mosque so impressive the fascination lies rather in the details abstract and floral ornaments Adorn the portals delicately carved into stone with the utmost accuracy you can tell that the divery is at the moment in the middle of nowhere but it must have been at some point right on the heart of an important trade route you're right on the Euphrates river and you can tell from this incredible building there must have been some serious money coming through here at some time to be able to afford this and to be able to mix all these different styles I think this great uh must is uh more than something more than a pure Turkish Islamic architecture it's a great combination mixture of many different cultures like Turkish Islamic Persian and Mesopotamian cultures all of them are combined in one building and that's amazing this this mosque was built in around 1220 and Marco Polo must have come around around here around 50 years later so although he doesn't actually specifically mention this mosque it doesn't mean that he didn't pass through here there's a lot a lot of things that Marco Polo didn't quite bother to get around to mention so he would have come somewhere through here would have come up through this High Plateau would have come through here probably up the Euphrates river and then carried on to ezing Jan eum and headed east the next morning rush hour at DIY train station the train is at quarter 5 Mr AIS you must meet he's the driver and he must know what time it driver of the train yes okay it takes 4 hours from here to the city of aen Chan Marco Polo's [Music] ainga [Music] [Music] even though the train stops every 5 minutes it doesn't get really [Music] crowded it's easy to strike up a conversation with your fellow Travelers especially if you have some bread tomatoes and cheese to share Adam kilos studies economics in Istanbul it turns out his hometown is ainan and he returns home whenever he can find the time is that where he's from he's going to visit his parents but also they are going to play jit it's a kind of all traditional uh game that you play on riding horses can we go and see that is that possible of course Marco poos ainga today a city of 100,000 people in northeastern turkey in aen Chan's cherit Club the team is meeting Adam still feels the effect of the long journey tur is a game played on Horseback it dates back to the time of the Ottoman Sultans maybe even to when the Mongols passed through the region over the last few years cherit has been staging a comeback especially amongst young people like Adam for [Music] for speeech for today more than 20 club members aged between 12 and 62 are once again playing cherit in öin Chan the name cherit comes from the red javelins used in the game okay yeah i' i' ridden once before in Mongolia but the horse was was about that tall so this is a slightly different uh kettle of fish um Adam where's the brake breake is here this is the brake yeah okay all right that that's all my tuition is it that's all I get yeah you can go now okay all right it takes half an hour by horse to get to the playing field it lies in the center of a rather faceless industrial city that has been devastated by more earthquakes than any other city in Turkey traffic is getting a little bit dense now so I'm going to leave it to the professionals traditionally the game is accompanied by Shen pipes and drums Yousef receives a rundown of the rules for for spe seven referees make sure the cherit is played according to the rules and you have to hit the body they have to hit the body not the legs not the horses it's like uh it's like ritualized Warfare you know there like practice for battle obviously obviously it's a war [Music] game [Music] hey Marco Polo's itinery is not always easy to pinpoint but here in the northeast of modernday turkey is one place he definitely traveled together with his father and uncle in deepest [Music] winter snow in ezam certainly lives up to reputation Marco Polo describes the area as the coldest place he experienced on his entire Voyage apart from the cold the Venetian quite like the city describing it as Noble and Rich despite its outof theeway location aaram prospers even today and the Jewelers who are based in this former caravanserai are making good money especially with one particular Stone known as Black Stone simple Marco Polo was particularly interested in precious stones in anything in fact that was valuable and easy to transport the whole Polo family were uh Jewel Traders for a lot of their business and part of his book was really a book for traveling Merchants so he's always describing Jewels local mines lapis lazuli pearls from India it's always in the back of his mind he's always got an eye open for these kind of things you can't he just can't turn it off it's part of who he is Jeweler Ali jellby tells them the name of the black stone utash yes it I know that the the Tash means Stone like Tash the city but what what learns that ALU is actually a town not far from aerum and that the stone is mined there and this is what it looks like when it comes out of the mountain it is dug out by hand 300 M underground deep and all labor work by hand first used in the Bronze Age lat used by the Romans it seems like it reached its Heyday in my own country during the reign of Queen Victoria when she wore it after the death of Prince Albert I didn't know that that's the the history of alashi we just have to find out where it's mine now so we got the car man great is it a good one not a brand new one but still it's driveable what the hell is this what's this oh my God and then if you are traveling in Turkey you must carry that kind of thing under your head you never know you should have told me that before we set [Music] up how far are we to go the area is pretty remote hopefully this is the right turn yeah let's this gu rightech forign forch for like every body else in the village nazim elal is a farmer and like most people here he works the ALU [Music] mines he takes 3 hours to reach the mine nazim climbs up every day except when the snow is too deep a few villagers are working a mine together Bradley discovers I think these are my size oh yeah I'm not sure it's unisex you know this particular tunnel is 180 M long and not particularly safe and so tight that one must crawl on all fours we're about 100 m into the mountain we still have more to go it's small Dusty and claustrophobic and I'm trying not to freak out too badly Alto tach sometimes times incorrectly called black Amber is the Petrified root of a tree okay so you find a vein of then you have to knock all the way around it very carefully so that you can get the whole kind of the old former tree route and get it out in one piece nazim has been working the mines since he was 12 he can almost smell the alut tach hidden in the rock so this is the this isi it comes out in veins this stuff is already hardened it's p been in contact with the air so it's already got quite hard when it originally comes out of the veins it's all soft and malleable it's only when it gets in contact with the air that it takes on this this hard format sa okay the alut tach is processed right in the village when first polished it turns brown bringing out the brilliant black gloss of the stone takes time and experience well the one thing I learned was to tell a fake one from a real one the real one Burns so if you've got some jewelry made out of this throw it in the fire if it burns it's real the story is that if you give one of these to uh someone who's caught your eye that that that girl will uh will be instantly attracted to you but in my experience that works with all kinds of jewelry the more expensive the better nazim elal has thrown a delicious slab of mutton onto the barbecue and has invited Bradley and Yousef to spend the night in the [Laughter] village next morning they continue their journey through Eastern Anatolia passing geese on the country roads and cars in even worse condition than theirs finally a car worse than this one Yousef who works as a photographer in Istanbul has to return home for an assignment before he leaves the two want to visit one last place [Music] [Applause] together Annie the deserted and destroyed capital of Greater Armenia Annie had once been an important trading Hub on the Silk Road home to more than 100,000 [Music] people three entryways lead into the cathedral one reserved for the patriarch one for the king and one the smallest for the people in 1045 Byzantium took over the city followed by the seljuks and he changed hands all the time so when the Muslims were in control the cels converted it into a mosque when the Christians had the upper hand they took it back to a church and it kept going back and forth over the centuries the arrival of the Mongols heralded Annie's decline an earthquake finished off the city the silk Road soon bypassed Annie completely I think Marco Polo went fairly close to here he probably didn't go to this exact spot but he went he went close to here on your way to Iran back in his day I think this was greater Armenia which would have covered everything from what is now Armenia to Eastern Turkey to Iran to Georgia this whole area would have been greater Armenia and he writes a lot about that looking around there's there's not really that much left a few enigmatic ruins the seljuks took the City the Georgians invaded the Mongols besieged the place but the worst thing has just been the ravages of time you know earthquakes have rocked the city lightning has has has struck several of the buildings and the city just was just left neglected for centuries so it's a it's a very enigmatic place it's better to have too much rather than too little petrol especially in this remote region pretty much at the end of turkey feels like the middle of nowhere from pretty much here Marco Polo talks about Georgia in this direction Armenia over there he talks about Iraq mosul and Baghdad he also talks about these great Fountains of oil not good for eating but uh good for burning he says and those are probably the modern day oil fields of Baku in aaban over this way he talks about tabis in Iran and that's his probable uh location of his his trip and that's where I'm headed next T bre is coming Time to Say Goodbye man yeah thanks for everything great good luck with the trip back in the assignment they have been traveling together for 4 weeks now it's time for bradle to continue [Music] [Music] alone Marco Polo believed that Noah's Ark rested on the summit for Bradley Mount Ararat marks his final destination in [Music] Turkey so this wild corner of turkey underneath Mount arat this is a Fitting Place to end the first leg of this trip up next is Big Bad Iran which I am personally really looking forward [Music] to [Music]

Channel: TRACKS - Travel Documentaries

Views: 25,548

Keywords: Ancient Civilizations, Beijing, Discovery Channel Vibes, East, European explorer, Retracing, Travel Inspiration, Türkiye, Virtual Travel Experience, Wanderlust Series, cross-country trip, documentary series, epic road trip, epic travel journey, hidden gems, nomad lifestyle exploration, remote destinations, road trip adventures, travel guide, travel inspiration

Id: k_aCJmjeA_o

Length: 52min 44sec (3164 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 06 2024