This is Dame Freya Stark's account of her third visit to Turkey. Her route was the one which had been taken 22 centuries earlier by Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, and the book aims to provide a bridge into that ancient world. It also offers insights into 20th-century Turkey, along little-used routes through lonely mountain passes, past remote ruins and along the pirate shore, where country people responded gladly to the author's informed curiosity. Dame Freya's other travel books include Dust in the Lion's Paw, Coast of Incense and A Winter in Arabia.