In Xanadu A Quest

In Xanadu: A Quest is William Dalrymple’s debut travel book, recounting his overland journey in 1986 retracing Marco Polo’s route from Jerusalem to Kublai Khan’s fabled summer palace at Xanadu in Inner Mongolia. As a 21-year-old Cambridge student on a travel scholarship, Dalrymple crosses Israel, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and China, moving through regions marked by wars, revolutions, and closed borders. Blending history, sharp observation, and dry humour, he weaves encounters with soldiers, pilgrims, border guards, and locals into a narrative that brings the modern Silk Road and its deep past vividly to life. The result is a lively, erudite travel classic that helped redefine literary travel writing for a new generation.