Since making his first voyage as a sailor to earn his passage from his native Holland to South America, Cees Nooteboom has never stopped traveling. Now a selection of his best travel pieces are gathered together in this collection of immense range and depth, informed throughout by author's wonderful sense of humor. From exotic places like Isfahan, the Gambia, and Mali, to seemly domesticated places like Australia and Munich, Nooteboom shares his view of the world, showing us the strangeness in places we thought we knew and the familiarity of places most of us will probably never see. His phenomenal gifts as an observer and the wealth of his reading and learning make him an authoritative and delightful companion.