When inquisitive American journalist Joel Stratte-McClure decides to walk around the Mediterranean Sea, we’re in for an exhilarating adventure. As a 30 year expatirate in France, he explores the coast, countryside and regional cultures — as well as his own mind — with compulsive vigour.
Armed with a copy of Homer’s “Odyssey,” he re-opens this great book for us as he ponders life, divorce, Buddhism, alcoholism, the art of trekking and a vast collection of weird, wicked, wonderful people along the way.
This is a trip to get into!
Reading “The Odyssey” in southern Italy.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Part One
The French Riviera: Getting on the Path
1. Do Not Delay Me, For I Love the Sea Ways
2. Did Odysseus Have Trouble with His Pedometer?
3. Technology and Sex Amidst the Sand, Sea, Sheiks and Sun
4. Quick, Get Me to a Monastery!
Part Two
Marching to Marseille: Staying on the Path
5. What’s Forrest Gump Doing in the Esterel?
6. If This Is Tuesday, Is It Time to Walk to Paris?
7. Will I Take a Job or Run into Brigitte Bardot?
8. A Promise to the Med Gods
9. MedTrekking With a Teenager and la Femme Mystérieuse
10. Prancing along the Calanques and Making the Marseille Connection
Part Three
Finishing France: Nudists, Buddhists and a Fish Called Joel
11. Walking on Forbidden Tracks & Love-Making in the Woods
12. Counting Flamingoes in the “Most Romantic” Part of France
13. A Revealing Visit to the World’s Largest Nudist Colony
14. “Very Dangerous Path—Entry Strictly Prohibited to the Public”
Part Four
Starting the Spanish Steps
15. Dedicating the MedTrek and Walking into a Cow
16. The First 1000 Kilometres and Layers of Life in Ampurias
17. Walking around 365 Curves to Reach the Gold Coast
18. Goodbye Mañana, Hello Tomorrow
Part Five
Coasting Through Spain and Sharing the Path
19. Gay Paths, Dead Birds and a Nuclear Plant
20. Crossing the Ebro and Reaching Valencia
21. MadTrekking South With René, Cassandra, Leonardo and Warrior Girl
22. Shadow Dancing on Spain’s Sandiest Shores
Part Six
The End of Spain: Travels With a Sorceress and a MedCrawler
23. Trembling on the Beach
24. Encountering a Sorceress
25. “No Job—No Money—No Worry” on the Costa del Soul
26. Reaching Europe’s Southernmost Point
Part Seven
Morocco: Walking on Water, Stuck in the Sand
27. Where Does the Med Begin?
28. How to Get Arrested Three or Four Times in One Day
29. A Death-Defying Fall: The Goat Is the Path
30. “There Are No More Roads in this Country”
31. The Med Takes Our Passports, Money and Sanity
Part Eight
An Italian Roam and Ramble
32. The Return to Antibes and a Nice Promenade
33. Marching through Monaco to Italy
34. Strolling along the Lungomare to Genoa
35. Surmounting Portofino and Embracing the Kissing Path
36. Finding My Marbles on the Etruscan Riviera
37. Marching on Roman Ruins and Meeting Athena
Hiking Addendum
38. Long-Distance Trekking and A Few Favourite Walks
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